The Alice Network by Kate Quinn 

The predecessor novel to The Huntress about a group of British and French women who spied on the Kaiser’s German troops in conquered parts of France.  Alice, or Lil as she is called in most of the story is a former princess and governess who can get through any checkpoint and runs the largest network of spies in France and Belgium.  The story takes place in two timelines, one during World War I and the other after World War II.  I’ll separate them here, though they are masterfully woven in the novel as Eve’s story being told to Charlie.   In the first timeline, a young woman, Eve Gardiner, is recruited to serve her country.  She jumps at the chance and after a short training period is sent into Alsace-Lorraine to work in a little town near the front on the German side.  She poses as a waitress and says nothing as she overhears plans and dates and locations being discussed by German officers who frequent the restaurant.  There is a complication, the Frenchman, Rene, who owns the café, takes an interest in her and she is faced with leaving the service or sleeping with him.  She chooses the latter and pillow talk becomes even more worthwhile to the Allies.  But one bit of information is so important that Lil talks her protégé into going with her to Belgium to deliver the news.  But this time, Lil’s luck at crossings runs out and they are arrested.  Their story that Eve has nothing to do with Lil works and the Germans release Eve, who goes on to meet their contact and deliver the information.  But when Eve returns to her employment, the restauranteur points her own gun at her.  He knocks her out and ties her up and tries to interrogate her.  He tortures her, breaking every joint in her fingers.  When that doesn’t work, he drugs her with opium.  When she comes to, he has the information he was trying to get.  Eve is sent to prison and considers herself a betrayer of Lil.  Lil eventually dies in prison, but Eve survives.  When she returns to England, she refuses to accept medals bestowed upon her and takes to living in a flat in London, trying to drink herself to death. At which point we come to the other timeline.  Charlie is young, unmarried, a sophomore in college and pregnant.  Her brother fought in WWII and upon returning, tried to let his family know he preferred men.  But they would not accept it and between the horrors he saw in the war and their rejection, he could not take it and killed himself.  Charlie wishes she could have done something to help.  She also has not her from her beloved cousin, Rose, since the war and has decided to look for her.  The only clue she has is Eve Gardiner’s address and a name, Rene.  Charlie’s mother is taking her to Switzerland to rid her of the ‘little problem’.  Charlie escapes in London and goes to the address.  Eve, drunk, does not want to help, but since Charlie has no money left and cannot get back to her mother easily, Eve tells her to sleep on the couch, but be gone by morning or she’ll be shot.  When Charlie wakes-up, a man is in the kitchen preparing breakfast and tells Charlie not to worry.  Eve hired the man to do things around the house that her mangled hands prevent her from doing, and he prepares breakfast for her every day.  The name Rene resonates with Eve and the trio set off to France to find out what happened to Rose.  The answer is not what Charlie wanted to hear.  But the connection is that Rene reported Rose to the Nazis as a possible connection to the resistance.  Their response was to try to kill everyone in the village.  One woman survived and tells the story of how Rose died.  Eve then takes over and they hunt Rene down.= The book is extremely well written, the language precise and worth studying.