Review: The Alice Behind Wonderland

The title is misleading. I thought this little book was going to explore the life of the real Alice - Alice Liddell. But it doesn’t. It’s about Charles Dodgson’s enthusiasm for photography, at the time in its early infancy. There is a lot of technical information about the development of the first cameras, which I must confess I skimmed.
However, what information is shared by Winchester about Dodgson is interesting, particularly the details of life in the rarified world of Oxford in the 1800s. And Winchester does have a lovely turn of phrase, it must be said!
But the major disappointment is the lack of pictures to support the text. Instead the author describes the images, which is somewhat tedious. If this book had the relevant photos, it would have been four stars.

• Review
• Simon Winchester