What We're Reading Now: Cathy

Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin

Have you ever wondered what the real Alice in Wonderland was like? She was one of the daughters of the Dean of Christ Church, Oxford and led a very privileged life and socialized with Queen Victoria's son, Prince Leopold (they had a romance) and John Ruskin (the famous critic) while they were at Oxford. And then, of course, there was her relationship with Charles Dodgson. What scandal caused her family to break off relations with him? No one knows to this day, but Melanie Benjamin gives us a plausible scenario. We follow Alice from the age of 7 to when she is nearing 80 and must sell her own copy of Alice in Wonderland - to an American! With all of the current interest in Alice in Wonderland, this is a "grown-up" alternative (or maybe an addition?) for those of us who still feel "curiouser and curiouser" about Alice.