The Alice Network follows parallel narratives surrounding women and war. In 1947, Charlie St. Clair is a promising young woman: bright, well-educated, and the daughter of wealthy parents. But the toll of the recently-ended war has thrown Charlie off-kilter, leaving her in danger of becoming a disgrace to her family. Nineteen and pregnant, she’s on a trip with her mother to “take care of her little problem” and return to the life her parents have planned for her. But Charlie has another idea: tracking down […]

Authors should definitely, absolutely be able to change up their MO. No one expects that they’re automatons, churning out crowd pleasers–in fact, there are a few authors who have made explicit that the pressure of pleasing fans sapped the joy of writing, thereby leading to even less author-ing. That all aside, I find myself somewhat disappointed by this latest foray into Kate Quinnland, as I know it from The Alice Network and The Rose Code, the latter of which I enjoyed quite a bit. As always, there is […]

Another book I really should have read much sooner, recommended by my dear, brilliant bookbird of a feather Evin. At the same time, though, I’m glad that I had this book squirreled away because I’d been through a bit of a rough patch when it came to novels at this point in the summer. I’d just moved to London, and a number of books I’d been looking forward to turned out to be solid 3* novels–which isn’t a bad thing, but if you know how […]