American college girl Charlotte “Charlie” StClair is unmarried and pregnant, which is frowned upon in 1947. When her mother takes her to Switzerland, Charlie escapes in the South of France. She heads to London to find Eve Gardener, in the hopes to find her cousin Rose who disappeared during the war.
When she finds Eve, she isn’t prepared for what she encounters. Eve is drunk and asks her questions at gunpoint. Charlie is taken aback by the state of Eve’s hands and scared to ask her about them. Eve is not willing to help, but she allows Charlie to sleep on her sofa providing she’s gone before Eve wakes up. In the morning she is awakened by an attractive man who introduces himself as Finn Kilgore, Eve’s aid and chauffeur. He convinces her to stay for breakfast and when Eve comes downstairs, she agrees to listen to Charlie again and to search for Rose with her. Charlie, Eve and Finn head to France to Rose’s last known location.
The flashbacks in the book are to 1915, Eve Gardiner, who is half French and grew up in the Alsace, is recruited as a spy by Cameron. After a few weeks of training, Eve meets Lilli in France to become part of the Alice Network. Eve, now known as Marguerite, takes a job in the establishment owned by René Bordelon which is frequented by German soldiers. Eve speaks German fluently as well (the Alsace is French but also German speaking) but has to pretend she doesn’t. Thus she is able to spy on the Germans in the restaurant and pass information to the Alice Network.
This book is so good! I couldn’t stop listening (previously I wasn’t able to put it down either). I highly recommend both the print and audio versions of this book.
Read for the ShelfReflection Reading Challenge 2026
Prompt 21: A book that takes place in 3+ countries
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️