After Alice

“ A brilliant and nicely off-kilter reading of the children’ s classic, retrofitted for grown-ups— and a lot of fun. ” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
When Alice toppled down the rabbit-hole 150 years ago, she found a Wonderland as rife with inconsistent rules and abrasive egos as the world she left behind. But what of that world? How did 1860s Oxford react to Alice’ s disappearance?
In this brilliant new work of fiction, Gregory Maguire turns his dazzling imagination to the question of underworlds, under-grounds, underpinnings— and understandings old and new, offering an inventive spin on Carroll’ s enduring tale. Ada, a friend of Alice’ s mentioned briefly in Alice’ s Adventures in Wonderland, is off to visit her friend but arrives a moment too late— and tumbles down the rabbit-hole herself.
Ada brings to Wonderland her own imperfect apprehension of cause and effect as she embarks on an odyssey to find Alice and see her safely home from this surreal world below the world. The White Rabbit, the Cheshire Cat, the bloodthirsty Queen of Hearts— droll and imperious as always— interrupt their mad tea party to suggest a conundrum: If Eurydice can ever be returned to the arms of Orpheus, or if Lazarus can be raised from the tomb, perhaps Alice can be returned to life. If not, everything that happens next is After Alice.