Book Review: The Looking Glass House by Vanessa Tait

Published by Corvus, priced £14.99 (ebook £3.99).

Vanessa Tait, the great granddaughter of Alice Liddell brings to light the imaginings of Carroll’s famous tale. Condensed into the short time frame of one year, Tait explores the struggle between childhood and womanhood in the face of romance and adventure.

Alice, the grotesque outspoken 10-year-old, is in competition with Mary Prickett, her surly jealous governess, for the love of Charles Dodgson. Tait captures the turning of Victorian society and childhood literature, raising questions of religion, Darwin and more overtly, morality and etiquette.

Alice’s stubbornness towards chastisement, reproach and manners clearly mark the path for adventure in a topsy-turvy world where the idiom is play and adult rules are made to be broken.

Prickett however, is a tragic tale of broken hopes and heart but one that is enticing and relatable for woman today.

Overall, it’s a stimulating observation of the beginnings of Alice’s Adventure and the underworld of Oxford’s elite.