The Alice Network

At the beginning of the story, Eve is a gun-wielding crone with crippled hands who drinks too much and suffers from traumatic nightmares. Through flashbacks, the reader learns about Eve’s experiences as a spy during World War I. She is recruited by Captain Cameron because she can hide her thoughts, lies easily, and possesses a stutter, which makes her seem simple-minded.

She is sent to Lille and given the name Marguerite Le François. Eve infiltrates a restaurant frequented by Germans and becomes the lover of the restaurant’s owner, René, so she can pass information back to the British. When René discovers Eve’s true identity, he smashes the joints in all her fingers and drugs her in an attempt to learn the name of the leader of her spy ring.

Eve has lived with a false sense of guilt ever since that day and vows to kill René for breaking her. It isn’t until the end of the novel that she learns she never betrayed her spy contact. This knowledge saves her and allows her to go on with her life. 

Finn is a handsome young Scotsman who works for Eve. His most cherished possession is a late-model Lagonda, which he uses to chauffeur Eve and Charlie on their adventure to find Rose. His ambition in life is to open an auto repair shop of his own.

Finn has served time in prison for beating up a man in a bar fight. His temper is the result of the atrocities he witnessed during World War II. He feels guilt over his inability to save a gypsy girl in a concentration camp. Because of Finn’s own shady past, he doesn’t judge either Eve or Charlie for their bad behavior. Over the course of the novel, Finn falls in love with Charlie and wants to build a family with her and her unborn child.

René is the owner of two restaurants in Lille and Limoges—both called Le Lethe. He is middle-aged and physically attractive in a cold sort of way. René enjoys the finer things in life and is willing to collaborate with the enemy to get them. His favorite poet is Charles Baudelaire. He not only names his restaurants after Baudelaire’s poetry but invents aliases based on the same source. He also uses a bust of Baudelaire to smash Eve’s hands.

René is indirectly responsible for Rose’s death but feels no remorse for any of his crimes. He avoids the consequences of his actions until Eve and Charlie catch up with him. René is a sociopath who believes he can outwit anyone and is enraged when he realizes that two women have bested him. Unrepentant to the end, he is shot by Eve as he attempts to kill Charlie.  

The spymaster of Eve’s ring is called Alice Dubois, but she prefers the name Lili. Tiny, bird-boned, and flamboyant, Lili indulges a taste for morally questionable hats. She demonstrates matchless courage in smuggling messages across the border under the very noses of the Germans. Cameron says she is the best spy, male or female, that he ever recruited.

Lili trains Eve and becomes her friend and confidante. She sacrifices herself to the Germans so that Eve can deliver an important message to the English. She never blames Eve for her arrest despite Eve’s guilt over the incident. Even in prison, Lili retains her fighting spirit and acts as an inspiration to the other inmates. She dies after a botched operation a short time before all the prisoners are liberated at the end of the war.

Violette is a squarely-built former nurse who acts as Lili’s second-in-command. She is bossy, has a no-nonsense attitude, and isn’t initially impressed with Eve’s abilities as a spy. When Eve becomes pregnant by René, Violette performs an abortion that saves Eve’s life. Violette is devoted to Lili and never forgives Eve for betraying the spymaster. By the end of the book, she learns of Eve’s innocence and reconciles with her former colleague.