The Alice Network

Flowers appear throughout the novel. Cameron gives his female agents the French names of flowers: Lili (Lily), Violette (Violet), and Marguerite (Daisy). Lili says of Cameron, “We’re his garden, and he fusses over us like an old maid with a watering can” (80). These flower names convey a sense of beauty and fragility, which belies the lethal nature of the women who bear them.

Despite their apparent innocence, Eve thinks of herself and her colleagues as fleurs du mal, flowers of evil. She tells Cameron, “We are not flowers to be plucked and shielded, Captain. We are flowers who flourish in evil” (228). The reference to flowers of evil is derived from the title of a book of poems by Charles Baudelaire. Baudelaire is René’s favorite poet, and his dark view of the world matches Eve’s view of the dirty work she does as a female spy known by the innocuous name of Daisy.

Charlie’s cousin’s name is Rose. When Eve asks Charlie to help her hunt René, she says, “‘There are two kinds of flowers when it comes to women,’ […] ‘The kind that sit safe in a beautiful vase, or the kind that survive in any conditions . . . even in evil. Lili was the latter. Which are you?’” (336).

Flowers possess a more positive connotation near the end of the book. When Charlie first sees the fields of hyacinth surrounding Grasse, she is overcome by their fragrant splendor and falls in love with the place. She even gathers an armful of flowers and offers them to Eve: “Eve looked at the mass of flowers, her tortured hands moving gently through the soft petals, and I felt my eyes prickle. You testy, stubborn, goddamn old bat, I do love you, I thought” (426).