Everyone thought she had made it up, and she had tolerated more taunting and teasing from other children, more lectures and punishments from grown-ups, than any eleven-year-old should have to bear. But now, after four years, it had arrived: her last, best chance to prove to them all that she had been telling the truth. A college scholar had thought enough of her history to write it up as a book.
She sat on a blanket on the banks of the river Cherwell, the remains of a picnic lunch in a basket at the Reverend Charles Dodgson's elbow. She held the book in her hands. He had written and illustrated it himself, he said. It had a nice weight and heft, felt substantial.[...]
"Oh!" Alice's Adventures Underground? What sort of title was that? And why was her name misspelled? She had told Dodgson how to correctly spell her name, had even written it out for him. "By Lewis Carroll?" she read with growing concern.
"I thought it would be more festive than saying it was by a reverend."
Festive? She had told him little that was festive. Concern was fast turning to alarm, but she swallowed it. What mattered was that he had faithfully recorded her history in Wonderland as she remembered it.[...]
"I admit that I took a few liberties with your story," Dodgson explained [...]
The grinning Chesire cat. The mad tea party. He'd transformed her memories of a world alive with hope and possibility and danger into make-believe, the foolish stuff of children. He was just another in a long line of unbelievers and this--this stupid, nonsensical book--was how he made fun of her. She had never felt more betrayed in all her life.
The above is excerpted from Frank Beddor's new book
The Looking Glass Wars. Yes, it arrived in the mail today, just in time for a rainy weekend.
Carl said I could use it as a RIP Challenge book, and I think I will have to. But first I will need to finish
The Monk which is decidedly and delightfully wicked. But I digress.
I have a give away copy of
The Looking Glass Wars. This is not an advanced reading copy but a finished hardcover. All you have to do to be eligible to win is leave a comment saying who your favorite character from the Alice books is and why (did you think I would let you off with just a name?). I will put everyone's name in a hat (maybe not a hat, more likely a bowl) and draw one out tomorrow evening. The lucky winner will also receive an extra related-to-the-book surprise.
Good luck!
