2025 & 2026 Reading Challenge discussion

This thread is to discuss The Alice Network by Kate Quinn.

Pages: 503 pages

Length: 1 month (December)

Participants: Amitha, Victoria, SarahKat

Everyone reads at their own pace during a Buddy Read. Because participants can be at different parts of the book at different times, it is extremely important to mark spoilers so that the book is not ruined for someone who is not as far along as others!!!

Mark spoilers by placing {spoiler} before the text and {/spoiler} after the text but use the < and > instead of the { and }.

Here are some questions to help get the conversation started! Feel free to look up discussion questions specific to this book or come up with your own. Just make sure any questions that contain spoilers are under spoiler tags.
Discussion questions are not required but may be a fun way to talk about the book and get to know each other!

Prior to starting:
What prompted you to join this buddy read?
Have you read this author before? What do you think of their other books?

Mid-read:
What character or ideas do you relate to the most and why?
Do you have any favorite quotes or scenes?

After reading:
What was enjoyable or not-so-enjoyable about this book?
Did this book change your perception about anything, either within the book (character development) or in real life?

I’m planning to start this book tomorrow night (I’m in the UK so I’ve just finished the book I was reading and it’s my bedtime already) I have never read any of her books before but if I enjoy this one I’ll explore more of her books. I am looking forward to this one, it’s different to a lot of the books I have been reading recently and I really enjoy books that have two protagonists that link over a time divide. I’m hoping it’s a good one.

Hey everyone! I did not sign up to read this with y'all but I just now noticed it was on the list for December. I had already planned to read it this month. Can I join you?

I probably will not be able to start it until next week.

Hi All! This was on TBR for so long and this is my first time reading this author. Hoping to enjoy this book.
Yes of course Carrie you are welcome to join this buddy read.

Welcome Carrie!

I have started this on audio, but may switch to physical when I've read some of the physical ones I'm working on. I'm having trouble focusing because of life stuff.

It's my first time with this author as well. I joined because I still needed a woman author with a Q initial for A-Z and I've heard great things about her.

I’m excited! I just happened to be planning to read this book in December! And now I have friends to read with!

Hello!
I also did not sign up for this buddy read, but would love to join yall!

Brianna wrote: "Hello!
I also did not sign up for this buddy read, but would love to join yall!"

Welcome Brianna, nice to have you join

Welcome all!

I wrote down a few notes when I finished part 2. (view spoiler)[This was a little hard to get into at first, keeping the women straight considering Eve is part of both stories and so is a Scottish (Irish?) man. Once I was more familiar with the path each woman was on, it was more enjoyable. I love both of these strong main characters!

I am glad Charlie made the choice for herself to keep her baby instead of letting her mother take her to Switzerland, and instead went to search for Rose with Eve.
I wonder if Rose was her real name or if she's another flower in the Alice Network in WWII. (hide spoiler)]

I just listened to a bunch more on a work trip today. So through Chapter 32: (view spoiler)[ Things are not good for anyone in the story right now. Eve got Rene's baby aborted by Violet which was painful. But also Eve was tortured and drugged. She held up but apparently the drugs made her give Lily/Alice up. I wonder if that actually happened. I'm glad she doesn't hate her for it.

Charlie just found out that Rose and her baby, Charlotte, died 3 years ago. I am hoping this isn't the case. I keep trying to find a way that Rose wasn't the person who was killed, like maybe that person was using her name. I don't know. I'd love a happy-ish ending. Since I'm new to this author I don't know where she'll go with this. (hide spoiler)]

End of part 2 (chapter 16) I’m really liking the book so far, even if overall not a massive amount has happened yet, but with two parallel narratives it takes more of the beginning of the book to start exploring the stories. I really like both main characters, they are engaging once you sort out whose who in which timeline and each has a fire and a bravery that I love. I’m more drawn to Eve in 1915 at this point but that may be because her story is a bit more fleshed out at this stage - I imagine Charlie’s story will come more into focus in the later stages of the book. (view spoiler)[ I like the mechanism of piecing together Eve’s story from Le Lethe while running parallel the search for Rose. The author cleverly takes the reader to similar geographical locations in each timeline so it is almost like seeing the past and the present running alongside each other. It’s a literary device I have enjoyed in other books too and it’s applied with a level of skill by the author. Eve clearly has PTSS and I imagine some sort of torture in her future/past given her hands and the increasing dangerous closeness with Réne. Violette also intrigues me, her hatred of Eve seems extreme and I don’t doubt that Lili plays a significant part in those emotions. The links between the past and the present still aren’t apparent for me but the possibility that Réne is still alive and linked with the Le Lethe in Limoges where Rose is rumoured to have ended up points to an entwined narrative at some point and I hope it’s a good plot (hide spoiler)]. I am liking the writing in the book and if the plot is a good one I would definitely look into more books by this author.

End of part 3 (chapter 32) As predicted I’m more engaged with Charlie’s story now, I find elements of Charlie’s character a little more modern than a 40s young woman, she comes across as a little more 60s to me, but maybe that’s just because her character is not one usually written about in stories set in the 40s. (view spoiler)[I have to say I love the idea of Charlie and Finn together, I see him working in his own garage and her doing the accounts and managing the business model. I’m not usually a romantic but I have really bought into the two of them, more so than Eve and Cameron. That would be a happy ending for me. On the topic of Rose, I hope the author is brave enough to commit to her death, as described by the village woman, for me it would be too easy for her to have Rose be alive, whereas having Charlie build a life herself, without the (slightly) emotionally co-dependent relationship she seems to have with Rose would be more appealing to my sense of the story (maybe I just have a bit of a chip of ice in my heart that enjoys an author being ruthless with her characters). (hide spoiler)] As SarahKat said I have no idea which way the author will go as I’ve never read her before so the last 28% of the book will be the deciding factor of the rating (between a 3 and 4) and whether I look into any more books by the author.

Finished the book (view spoiler)[I really enjoyed the book, solid four stars from me, and will be looking at others by the author. I liked that she stayed committed to Rose’s death and the story behind Oradour-sur-Glane was all the more emotive and harrowing for its historical accuracy. Female friendship is such a pivotal part of this book and I don’t think we give enough importance to friendship in life. Seeing the impact of Eve and Charlie on each other; one softening and healing and one showing the importance of bravery and making your own choices really allowed both characters to grow and made their bond so much more special. Charlie and Finn together was enough of a happy ending for my taste, I don’t particularly like over sentimental endings but this one had just enough. Eve’s fate also had a lovely ring of truth to it. She didn’t turn into a doting grandmotherly figure to Charlie’s child, content to stay at home like a Mediterranean nonna, she struck out travelling on her own, living and coping with her demons the best way she could, I liked the message that although broken things can be repaired the scars are still there to see, you can never fully go back but you can make a new life. A little bleak maybe but far more accurate of real life (hide spoiler)]. Can’t wait to read what others think about it.

Loved reading your thoughts Victoria!

I completely forgot to add my final thoughts when I finished. It's been a crazy month already.

You are right Victoria, (view spoiler)[if Rose had ended up surviving it would not have been as good for the story. I hoped it for Charlie's sake but the fact that the author committed to the death was better. I also thought Charlie read as more modern. I kept having to remind myself that her story is only barely after WWII and not present day. I think she would have fit the 40's mold better if she hadn't bonded with Eve and Finn and sort of got a taste of what she was capable of. Her parents kept her "in her place" until the desperation to find her cousin drove her away, but Finn and Eve's freedom, history, outlook on life, are what kept her from returning to that life.

I liked that Eve and Finn ended up together. I like that the ending wasn't perfect. Some things got resolved, like Rose's fate and we found that Eve did not actually give up Alice, but it didn't go too heavy-handed on the happily-ever-after. (hide spoiler)]

I would definitely be interested in buddy reads of other books by this author in 2026

I am finally starting and I am very excited for it. I have never read this author but this book has been on my tbr for a long time and I have had it picked out to fill one of my yearly challenges since the beginning of the year but it has not lined up with any of my other challenges until now.

I will be reading the ebook but also have a very long audio book going so will only be in this one when I have time to sit and do nothing else so it may take awhile to finish.

I have enjoyed glancing at all of y'alls comments but am looking forward to reading them more thoroughly when they are no longer spoilers for me.

End of part 1 and liking both the timelines and the characters involved so far. I am loving Eve’s era for now. Only thing is I find it difficult to switch between the timelines for each chapter (could have made into 2 big parts for Charlie and Eve instead) as it takes away my interest on particular plot (say Eve’s) and go suddenly into different plot.

I finished it. I loved it! I actually liked the way she switched between the timelines. I understand how some of you were bothered with how modern Charlie was for the 40s. I am not sure about that - I think while most women were not like her that some may have been and that is why she worked as such a unique character for her time.

As far as how the story ended, (view spoiler)[

I also loved the way it ended. I agree with SarahKat that the balance of keeping the story tragic but also letting the characters find a different happy ever after in their own way was perfect. It felt like real life, you can't just magically re-write all of the hurt away but you can find a new purpose in life and let yourself find a way to be happy or content.

(hide spoiler)]

This was probably one of my favorite books that I have read this year which is great because I also need to read the Diamond Eye by the same author before the month is over.

I had originally said that I had never read this author but I was wrong, I read The Briar Club earlier this year. It was not one of my favorites but also it could be because I was very busy and stressed when I was trying to finish it.