Not only was Louise a real person, so too were several other characters, and many of the events in the story are based on historical events. The courage, ingenuity, and resourcefulness of the woman christened the queen of spies needs no exaggeration to make for thrilling reading. It's a shame she isn't better known, as Kate Quinn says of her in the authors note: But Louise de Bettingnies was a stranger to me. I studied Gallipoli in History and War Poetry in English, not to mention a having a fair few novels set during the wars on my Completed Shelf. Have you heard of her? If you have, you're doing better than me! Before reading this fascinating novel, I knew nothing about women spies in WWI apart from some vague recollections about Mata Hari. I was surprised when I realised that I was reading about a woman who had truly risked her life providing the allies with information. I mean, I'm not completely ignorant about the world wars. It's also the story of their two quests-Charlie's search for her French cousin Rose, missing since 1944, and Eve's quest for retribution and for peace.Īnd, it's the story of Louise de Bettignies, code named Alice Dubois, queen of spies. The other is the story of Eve Gardiner, a stuttering half-French girl plucked from her life as a file girl in an English law office and dropped into the spy network in France during World War I. One path is the story of Charlie St Clair, the little bony girl with the rounding belly, on her way to an Appointment to deal with her Little Problem. It was a surprising, rabbit-warren of a novel, following the interconnected paths of two very different women, and spanning both world wars. Then again, 1947 was hell for any girl who would rather work calculus problems than read Vogue, any girl who would rather listen to Edith Piaf than Artie Shaw, and any girl with an empty ring finger but a rounding belly. Nineteen forty-seven was hell for little bony girls like me who couldn't wear the New Look. The story captured me from the very beginning- no need to read to page 90 with this one I was hooked by page two! I spent the last couple of weeks down the rabbit hole, head buried in The Alice Network by Kate Quinn.

Jan Medlicott Prize for Fiction finalist: The Axeman’s Carnival by Catherine Chidgey.

Meet the locals – The hockey playing Pearce sisters of Kaiapoi.

Powerful and Confronting: Michael Bennett’s Better The Blood.Words, not deeds–Missbeecrafty reports back on Pip Williams.

The slow burn of The Slow Roll by Simon Lendrum.

An interview with Frances Plumpton, author of Tide’s Out Tai Timu.

Everybody is Somebody: Book review of Sylvia and the Birds by Jo Emeney.

An interview with the Eggcellent Heather Haylock and Lael Chisholm.

Reviews of the alice network