- Published: 26 March 2015
- ISBN: 9781473510999
- Imprint: Vintage Digital
- Format: EBook
- Pages: 496
The Story of Alice
Lewis Carroll and The Secret History of Wonderland
- Published: 26 March 2015
- ISBN: 9781473510999
- Imprint: Vintage Digital
- Format: EBook
- Pages: 496
The Story of Alice is the best book on the myriad enigmas of Carroll’s heart-breaking wonderland I have ever read
Robert McCrum, Observer
It is the ultimate book about Alice - comprehensive and scholarly, but so delightfully and elegantly written that it's a true work of literature
Jacqueline Wilson
Magnificent
5 Stars, Charlotte Heathcote, Sunday Express
Fascinating
Book of the Week, Philip Collins, Times
Superb…toweringly the best of the dozens of books on Carroll which I have read
AN Wilson, Financial Times
This is biography at its best
Lyndall Gordon, New Statesman
This accomplished book provides ample inspiration for readers to return to Wonderland
Francesca Wade, Prospect
Douglas-Fairhurst is a startling and exciting writer
A.S. Byatt, Spectator
Different times, and Robert Douglas-Fairhurst makes a sure-footed guide in unraveling them…intriguing
Anthony Quinn, Mail on Sunday
A fascinating telling of a great mystery story
The Times
It did for me what any good critical work should do: it sent me back to Alice for the first time in over 40 years
Vanessa Berridge, 4 stars, Daily Express
[A] scholarly, playful and richly entertaining study
Jane Shilling, Evening Standard
The Story of Alice takes us, full throttle, back to the unalloyed passion of reading. This is what it is like to open a book, and to wonder
Frances Wilson, 5 stars, Daily Telegraph
A sparkling, highly readable and erudite study
Nicola Shulman, Oldie
The Story of Alice is much more than its coy title. It is the story of several Alices… Above all it is the story of Lewis Carroll
Brian Sewell, Independent On Sunday
Douglas-Fairhurst provides the best readings of the Alice books I have come across… It returns the reader to the books, and in doing so performs an inestimable service to the author, his inspiration and legions of readers
Stuart Kelly, Scotland on Sunday
Superb...you feel a wise critic and a master biographer telling the story of an unfolding literary imagination
AN Wilson, Financial Times
[A] masterful biography
Anne Cunningham, Irish Independent
[Douglas-Fairhurst’s] astute and subtle commentary illumines the world of Lewis Carroll and Alice, with all its attributes and attitudes. Scholarly, engrossing and comprehensive, The Story of Alice, like Alice itself, raises the spirits while extolling ambiguity and unpredictability
Patricia Craig, Irish Times
A delicate and no doubt definitive summing up of Alice studies to date
Alexander Lucie-Smith, Tablet
A fascinating, unsettling read
Lev Grossman, Time Magazine (Europe)
Leaves you wanting more
Anthony Lane, New Yorker
The most nuanced and convincing picture yet of Wonderland's quirky, self-effacing creator
Wall Street Journal
A thoughtful, far-reaching narrative
New York Times Book Review
The Story of Alice belongs with the best books ever written in the field of Carrollian studies
Michael Dirda, Washington Post
A richly satisfying study of a children’s classic, perceptive and enlightening in equal measure
Good Book Guide
Enormously entertaining and thoughtful
Kate Tuttle, Boston Globe Sunday
Sensitive, canny and erudite
Graham Robb, Spectator
Effortlessly elegant project
Gaby Wood, Daily Telegraph
He gets us far closer than we have ever been to the act of alchemy by which a shy and creepy Oxford don turned a pert little girl into an enduring heroine of children’s literature
Kathryn Hughes, Guardian
Brilliant and nuanced book.
Emma Hagestadt, Independent
This masterly biography peels back the often mysterious and absorbing layers of the lives of the writer and his child muse.
Julia Richardson, Daily Mail
Fascinating.
Philip Collins, The Times
A readable and engaging insight into an iconic book and ambiguous author.
Charlotte Heathcote, Daily Express
Elegant study.
Daily Telegraph
In this pleasantly-meandering biography, Robert Douglas-Fairhurst takes us on a voyage of discovery into the lives of…Lewis Carroll, and his child-muse Alice Liddell, and argues for the return of innocence to their relationship.
Des Breen, Irish Examiner