After Alice: A Novel

What if Alice was not the only one to wander into Wonderland? Not only that, but what did everyone else experience when Alice fell down the rabbit hole? After Alice explores the goings on of the people close to Alice, especially those of Ada, who also finds herself falling down the rabbit hole, cleverly incorporating events and characters from Lewis Carroll’s classic tale.

Gregory Maguire’s style of writing–use of obscure words, garrulous descriptions, and almost archaic prose–can be challenging to follow at times. However, once a reader settles into the story, Maguire’s style takes on an almost lyrical quality. In After Alice Maguire masterfully mimics the quick, witty, and often nonsensical dialogue of Carroll’s original story. After Alice follows Ada’s adventures in Wonderland as she searches for Alice, and Victorian Oxfordshire as Lydia, Alice’s sister, and Ada’s governess search for the missing girls. Maguire revisits Carroll’s cast of characters as Ada encounters them providing their perspective of their encounters with Alice. Once again, Maguire focuses on the peripheral characters of a classic story, providing a insight and perspective, not by retelling the classic, but by creating a companion story told from a different perspective.