The Alice Network

During the road trip to Rouen in May 1947, Charlie recalls an incident from her childhood. On a family excursion into Provence, she and Rose were accidentally left behind by their parents at a roadside café for six hours. Rose is frightened that no one will ever come back for them. She confesses that her mother doesn’t like her. Charlie remembers, “But I had some muddled idea, seeing her fight the fear that her parents wouldn’t bother coming back for her, and I squeezed her hand. ‘Even if they don’t come back, I’m here,’ I’d said. ‘I won’t leave you’” (88-89).

Charlie is jolted out of her reverie when Finn announces that they’ve arrived at her Aunt Jeanne’s house. Charlie goes inside and is shocked by her aunt’s wasted appearance. Jeanne says that Rose joined the French Resistance, fell in love with a comrade, and became pregnant. After her family disowned her, Rose went to Limoges to have the baby and found work at a restaurant there. Charlie is struck by the parallel to her own life. She later shares the information she received with Eve and Finn.

In June 1915, Eve arrives in Lille and is struck by the wartime misery of the place. Lili and another spy named Violette instruct her how to behave around the Germans to avoid arousing suspicion. They drill her on her background story so that she will stand a better chance of being hired as a waitress by René Bordelon, the owner of Le Lethe.

René interviews her in his opulent office, which Eve finds offensive: “The room with its walls hung in jade green silk whispered of money and taste, luxury and self-indulgence. And with the terrible conquered world that was Lille visible through the spotless muslin drapes, such opulence was obscene” (104).

René quizzes Eve to make sure she doesn’t understand German. Because he is very good at detecting lies, Eve needs to make her story especially convincing. After she lands the job, Eve remarks, “I think,’” […] and the thrum of fear increased just a tick, ‘that it will be very difficult to spy under his nose” (109). 

In May 1947, Charlie, Eve, and Finn spend the night in Lille even though Eve has a strong aversion to the place. During the night, Charlie and Finn are awakened by Eve’s screams. Eve tries to shoot Finn with her unloaded Luger when he bursts into the room. Charlie tells the innkeeper that Eve was simply having a nightmare.

After they get Eve settled, Charlie and Finn return to his room, where Charlie tries to seduce him by saying, “Everyone knows tramps sleep around. And you’re kind of a dish. So why not?” (122). Much to her surprise, he declines: “‘Charlie, lass,’ he said, and I had time to think how much I liked my name in his soft Scottish burr, ‘you need a better reason than that’” (122). 

In June 1915, Eve begins her job as both a waitress and a spy. René demands perfection in his waitstaff, and Eve is determined to meet his expectations. As she unobtrusively waits on a Kommandant and his friends, she overhears valuable information about a new battery of artillery, which she passes on to Lili. Eve’s contact is ecstatic and says that their compatriots can bomb that location within four days.

The next day at work, Eve is questioned by René. He doesn’t believe she comes from Roubaix, as her papers indicate: “His eyes bored sharp as scalpels, devouring all of her: every movement, every twitch of muscle, every flick of expression. Lie, Eve, she thought harshly. The best lie of your life” (132). Using all her skills, Eve concocts a story that’s near enough to the truth to convince René. Later, she wonders if even her considerable skills will be enough to outwit him.

In May 1947, the road trip continues for Charlie, Eve, and Finn. Eve wants to go to Roubaix to meet with an old contact who may have useful information. They enter an antique shop run by Violette, who threatens to shoot Eve if she doesn’t leave: “Such different women, one tall and gaunt and wrecked, the other sturdy and neat and respectable. But they faced each other erect and granite hard as pillars, and hatred boiled off them in black waves like smoke” (139).

Eve wants to know if René Bordelon died in 1917, as everyone assumes. Violette says he was still alive in 1918. If Cameron told Eve otherwise, it was only to give her closure. Charlie now believes it’s no coincidence that Rose worked for a man named René at a restaurant in Limoges called Le Lethe. Eve refuses to believe that René is still alive and quits the search on the spot. Charlie vows to continue her investigation alone. When she returns to her hotel, she’s confronted by her mother who has succeeded in tracking her down.