Spy story ? We think 007 or some sleazy character
creeping out of the cold. In “The Alice Network”, the spy is female, afflicted
with a stutter and masquerading as a waitress in Lille in 1915. Eve, the spy in
question, is a good comedian. To René, the owner-manager of the luxury
restaurant where she works, she can appear as a simpleton, but an attractive simpleton
just the same. She ends up in René’s bed. Eve, in fact, is very clever,
well-organised, disciplined and resourceful. She is also fluent in three
languages : English, French and German.
Lille is then in German-occupied France. Just
as Eve does not fit in with the usual idea of a spy, René does not fit in with
the general idea of an arch villain : he is tall, slim, elegant and
educated, but he really is a horrible human being. Actively collaborating with
the Germans, he is totally self-centred and ruthless.
What René does to Eve and to another one of his
waitresses, and what happens after that, is for the reader to discover. There is also
a secondary plot : a love story told vigorously, without sentimentality.
It is important to know that the character of
Eve was inspired by a real female spy of WW1 : Louise de Bettignies.
The novel is well written, and keeps us on
tenterhooks the whole time. The style remains contained and simple while
managing to create an atmosphere of unrelenting dread and gloom.
As a final remark, I would say that when anyone
mentions the words occupied France, we think of WW2 and the cloak of
horror the Nazis had been spreading over occupied countries, but the attitude
of the Germans in the part of France they controlled in WW1 was equally
horrific.
