Why a Booktrail?
1832 – 1898: What happened to Alice after she’s been to Wonderland?
1832 – 1898: What happened to Alice after she’s been to Wonderland?
When Alice steps through the looking-glass in the drawing room one snowy, drowsy afternoon, she finds herself in a peculiar, topsy-turvy world where chess pieces walk about, flowers talk and nothing is quite as it seems. Alice is caught up in a bizarre chess game and encounters some rather eccentric characters, both new and familiar including the argumentative Tweedledum and Tweedledee, Humpty Dumpty, the Lion and the Unicorn, the nonsensical White Queen and the quick-tempered Red Queen.
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson is better known as Lewis Carroll
Dodgson was born in the small parsonage at Daresbury in Cheshire. He was the eldest boy but already the third child of the four-and-a-half-year-old marriage. Eight more children followed. When Charles was 11, his whole family moved to the rectory. This remained their home for the next 25 years.
“Lewis Carroll” was educated at home. By the age of seven, he was apparently reading books such as The Pilgrim’s Progress. Like many of his siblings, he suffered from a stammer and this would have an effect on the rest of his life.
The story of Alice in Wonderland actually starts in a very real place above ground – the story came about following a journey the author had when walking along a river between Oxford and Godstow whilst trying to entertain the two little girls in his care.
Dodgson told the girls a story that featured a bored little girl named Alice who goes looking for an adventure. The girls loved it, and the real Alice asked Dodgson to write it down for her. He began writing but it wasn’t until they all went on another journey and boat trip a month later, when he started to elaborate the story and write it out in full.
Destination: Oxford, Daresbury Author/Guide: Lewis Carroll Departure Time: 1832 – 1898
Back to Results