The Real Alice: Lewis Carroll's Dream Child

by Anne Clark

From an Amazon reader ""The Real Alice" is an exhaustive history of Alice Liddell and her family, encompassing her entire life and times, and including her friendship with Rev. Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll), her later marriage and sons, and her final years, when she was celebrated as "the real Alice in Wonderland". The genesis and evolution of Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" is meticulously presented, and her relationship with Dodgson is objectively detailed with great fidelity to the known facts and without undue speculation. Alice is brought to life with such intimacy that, by the end, you feel that you know as much about her as it is possible to know, and have a deep affection for her. The book is loaded with b&w photographs, and inside the front and back covers are diagrams of her parents' family trees. It is the most complete and memorable story of Alice I have ever read."

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography

271 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1982

Reviews

[Alexia Polasky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although this book felt more like a family-tree analysis, there is enough relevant information —as well as some photos I hadn't seen before— for me to consider it a must read for Alice fans.

[James Crawford · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is over 200 pages long and contains a lot of information on Alice Liddell. It also includes a great deal of information on various relatives of hers, so much information that, at times, the book reads more like a geneological report than a regular book. There are some nuggets of information, though, like Alice is related to Queen Elizabeth II, many of Dodgson's papers were burned when he died (and there are also complete diaries of his missing and some pages from one of his other diaries), Alice's mother burned all of Dodgson's letters to Alice, and the caterpillar's question -Who are you?- refers to the concept of status in the English society of that time.

It's a good book, yes, but a little too detailed on the relationship of various relatives.

[Gabrielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of photos in this one... lots of irrelevant information. (bah!)

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I highly recommend this book to those who love Alice in Wonderland. A fascinating look at the life of the inspiration for Alice-Alice Liddell.