The Alice Network by Kate Quinn

My husband's family has a big reunion every Labor Day weekend.  On the way down there, we always come up with a list of appropriate topics to talk about. This list usually draws on things like the last movie we watched (I have no idea), what series we're binging on Netflix (Dark, but we're rewatching the first season because it's so complex and we only manage to get through about three episodes a week, so it's slow going), and my upcoming classes for the semester (seem okay). 

This year I also added books that I want everyone to read (I'm still harping on Elena Ferrante) and getting the dog. 

I also talked almost incessantly about The Alice Network by Kate Quinn.

This was my book club book for September and I almost didn't read it because I can't go to book club this month AND it's historical fiction and I really just considered that maybe I could skip it. But we tend to circle round to books in book club and it's just as likely we'll talk about this book in six months as it is that they'll talk about this month.

The one sentence summary is that this book is about lady spies during World War I and tells a tough story about the interwar period in Europe between WWI and WWII. And that's simple enough. But it's not simple at all.

I didn't want to read it, but I started and I just couldn't stop turning the pages. There was danger, intrigue, and messed up family dynamics. There was deprivation and brutality and all of it was wrapped up in lush descriptions of the European countryside.

Maybe you're like me and you don't much care for historical fiction. This is the one you should read.  Forget The Nightingale. Forget All the Light You Cannot See. Both of those are fine books and I liked both of them.  But this book had a much more interesting plot, more nuanced female characters, and propelled me to talk about it with everyone I talked to over a long weekend. 

It's worth waiting for it on the waitlist.