This was a beautifully told story based on heroic female historical figures. I loved how much detail Kate Quinn was able to include, the depth of character development allowed me to live in this story.

The historical figures in this story, Lili and Violette, were so inspiring. And, though Eve wasn’t based on a real person, she rounded out their group incredibly well. Rene was an excellent villain because he wasn’t anything above or beyond what he needed to be: a man, greedy for status and power, overlooking women solely due to their gender and running away whenever things got too complicated.

The love story in the ‘modern’ part of this book was, sure, cliché and obvious, but still lovely. Charlie and Finn are just good people and it was nice to see them be smart and kind. They were good foils for Eve in her sad, guilt-ridden later years.

My biggest complaint here was Charlie’s annoying habit of simplifying everyday mundane things into equations as a way to prove how ‘unique’ she is. As if being pregnant and unmarried wasn’t enough, she also had to constantly prove how smart she was in an obvious and slightly narcissistic manner. Usually just being level-headed and helpful is enough to prove yourself, you don’t have to get all boastful with the weird/quirky nonsense equations as well.

Happy endings can be cloying and overdone and unnecessary.