History Literature / TheAliceNetwork

* SurprisinglyGoodEnglish:
** Eve speaks perfect German, French, and English. Since she rarely has occasion to use more than one or two of these with someone, people are often surprised by her skills. For example, she helps Charlie with a clerk who can't understand Charlie's American-accented French and Charlie remarks that she didn't know Eve could speak French so well.
** Captain Cameron asked Eve to translate a letter into French, but later switched to French when speaking with her. It's implied that he asked her to translate the letter to test her language skills, not because he needed the help.

* ChharacterNameAlias: René Boredelon always chooses false names from Baudelaire.

* RapeAndRevenge [[spoiler: Eve Gardiner]] kills [[spoiler: René Bordelon]] for essentially forcing her to sleep with him, and then torturing her when he found out she'd been spying on him.

* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: Eve calls René a cut-price [[LesCollaborateurs collaborating cunt.

The year is 1915, and Britain is in the midst of what would eventually be called UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne. Evelyn Gardiner, a bored typewriter girl with a [[ConsummateLiar talent for lying]], is spotted one day by the handsome, Scottish recruitment officer Captain Cameron and becomes a spy. After completing training, she joins [[TitleDrop the Alice Network]], a network of spies based in the starved French city of Lille, and is immediately plunged into a world of danger and excitement beyond her wildest dreams — or maybe nightmares. Among Eve’s comrades in Lille are Lili, the vivacious Frenchwoman running the network, and Violette, Lili's stern {{Foil}} and [[NumberTwo second in command]]. Also present is René Bordelon, an [[ManOfWealthAndTaste elegant]] French [[LesCollaborateurs profiteer]] who could ruin everything if he learned Eve’s secrets…

32 years later, Charlotte [[TomboyishName “Charlie”]] [[AlliterativeName St. Clair]], a grieving [[TeenPregnancy pregnant teen]], comes across Eve, now a bitter, [[TheAlcoholic alcoholic]] old woman. Charlie somehow pulls Eve into her quest to find her missing cousin Rose, and Charlie, Eve, and Eve’s driver [[LoveInterest Finn]], embark on a road trip that will change everything….

* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: Eve calls René a cut-price [[LesCollaborateurs collaborating]] [[CountryMatters cunt]].

* JoinTheArmyTheySaid: Eve’s [[PointOfView P.O.V.]] opens with her staring at a recruitment poster and wishing she could join up.

* BeAllMySinsRemembered: Eve refuses military honors [[spoiler: (war metals, among them the Order of the British Empire)]], because she feels that, having [[spoiler: betrayed Lili]], she is not worthy of them. [[spoiler: When Charlie reveals to her that she did not in fact betray Lili, she accepts the metals — in fact, she wears them to Charlie’s baby’s christening.]]

* MixedAncestry: Eve is half French and half English. This, along with growing up near the border of Germany in France, means she speaks French, English and German fluently. It comes in handy when she becomes a spy.

* DefiniteArticleTitle: The title ''The Alice Network'' begins with the word "the."

* DrivenToSuicide: Charlie’s brother James and [[spoiler: Captain Cameron]] both committed suicide because they couldn’t cope in peacetime. [[spoiler: Eve was going to commit suicide after killing René because she couldn’t live with her guilt, but Finn and Charlie talked her down.]]

* ShellShockedVeteran: Eve, Finn, Charlie’s brother James, and Captain Cameron are all former or current soldiers with PTSD. Eve and James panic in crowded places occasionally, [[spoiler: Cameron and James shoot themselves]], Finn and Eve have been confirmed to have BadDreams, and Finn has anger issues.

* BadDreams:
** Eve has horrible nightmares. She mentions that she dreams about René’s study more than the trauma she was put through during [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne the war she fought in]], though.
** Finn also has nightmares about [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII the war]] ''[[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII he]]'' [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII fought in]], although they’re not as heavily featured as Eve’s are.

* TheTheTitle: The title ''The Alice Network'' begins with the word "the."

** Eve speculated that a friend who committed suicide might have done the same, but all we know for sure is that he committed suicide with a firearm.

* JackBauerInterrogationTechnique: René brutally tortures Eve after suspecting her (correctly) of spying for the Resistance. He smashes each of her fingers in succession with a bust of Bodillaire, and also drugs her. He later tells Eve she talked after this. [[spoiler:It turns out he was lying though.]]

** When Captain Cameron asks Eve whether she speaks German, she tells him she doesn't.

* BatheHerAndBringHerToMe: Downplayed. A mistress is asked to take a bath before coming to the bedroom, but she bathes alone and she isn't forced to. She is humiliated by the insinuation that she smells, but she also appreciates the hot water and expensive soap, neither of which she has access to otherwise.

32 years later, Charlotte [[TomboyishName “Charlie”]] [[AlliterativeName St. Clair]], a grieving [[TeenPregnancy pregnant teen]], comes across Eve, now a bitter, [[TheAlcoholic alcoholic]] old woman. Charlie somehow pulls Eve into her quest to find her missing cousin Rose, and Charlie, Eve, and Eve’s handsome, Scottish driver Finn, embark on a road trip that will change everything….

* DisappearedDad: The birth father of Charlie's baby isn't involved, due to her [[ReallyGetsAround having no idea]] [[WhosYourDaddy who he is]]. [[spoiler:Finn, however, becomes the adopted father of her son.]]

* DisappearedDad: The birth father of Charlie's baby isn't involved, due to her [[ReallyGetsAround having no idea]] [[WhosYourDaddy who he is]]. [[spoiler:Finn]] however becomes the adopted father of her son.

* * FloralThemeNaming: Many of the characters (Lili, Violette, "Marguerite," Rose) have flower names, which ties into the ''fleurs du mal'' metaphor.

* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Eve feels jealous of Lili when Cameron first describes her as his best spy, but gets over it when she meets Lili. Not only does she like Lili a lot, she also realizes that their roles are different, but both important. (Lili’s job is “to be anyone” — to pretend to be many different people, all insignificant. Eve can’t do this — her stutter is too memorable — so instead her job is “to be no one,” or, in other words, Marguerite.) To top it off, Lili even gives her explicit permission to sleep with Captain Cameron if she gets the opportunity, removing any competition on that front.

-->'''Charlie''': I really don't see that equation balancing out, ''[[GratuitousForeignLanguage Maman]]''.\\
'''Charlie's mother''': What on earth do you mean?\\
'''Charlie''': One college sophomore minus one small encumberance, divided by six months' passage of time, multiplied by ten Paris frocks and a new haircut will not magically equal one restored reputation.\\

* DysfunctionJunction: Practically every character has a tragic past and psychological issues, including Finn, a ShellShockedVeteran and ex-convict with anger issues; Charlie, a grieving [[TeenPregnancy pregnant teen]], who killed himself; Eve, an ex-spy who's been through torture and has had more or less every friend she's made leave her; Cameron, ''another'' [[ShellShockedVeteran shell-shocked]] ex-con (he also has issues with his wife); and numerous others.

* DrowningMySorrows: Eve tends to drink to kill the pain. Charlie and Finn sometimes join her. (Finn in particular mentioned that he drank a lot after coming back from the war, and that this led to some of his worse decisions.)