A fairly academic take on the back story of Alice and Wonderland as well as the influences that the Alice stories have had on culture.

First and foremost, I would like to thank NetGalley, Pen and Sword and Angela Youngman for sending me the ARC for The Dark Side of Alice. I particularly liked the first few chapters of this, it provided a lot of insight into Alice and Lewis Carroll's lives that I simply had no idea about! However, I did struggle a bit with the repetitive nature of the book as a whole. It seemed to be focused on the same few facts and just rephrased them throughout. The writing was particularly engaging and had me hooked from the first page, but as I continued through this I caught myself skimming more and more.

I love anything related to Alice in Wonderland, so I was really excited to receive an ARC for this ebook. The Dark Side of Alice in Wonderland was definitely an interesting read. While the book is chock-full of information about Lewis Carroll/Charles Lutwidge Dodgson and the real Alice (the author did amazing research), some of the information definitely gave me pause. The sections about Carroll’s friendship with Alice and other children were a bit unsettling. He had quite a fascination with young children.

Alice in pop culture has always fascinated me, so I was happy to see that was discussed in several chapters. I especially enjoyed The Ripper Alice and Murder Mystery Alice chapters. I love all things Alice and mystery!

Overall, I enjoyed this book. My only complaint is it got a bit repetitive in a few spots, but I still really enjoyed it and would recommend this book to Lewis Carroll and Alice in Wonderland fans.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an advance copy in return for my honest review.

The Dark Side of Alice in Wonderland is a deep dive into the many reimaginings of the classic children’s tale, while also taking a look at the mysterious Lewis Carol and the real main behind the famous pseudonym.

The chapters that focused more on Charles Dodgson life we’re definitely the more compelling, as these were backed up with excerpts from his own diaries and people related to his life. It was a fascinating look into one of the most famous writer’s of history, whom we really don’t know much about.

Some of the other sections of the book lean in to more conspiracy theory territory and I can understand that might not interest everyone. A lot of the information given is drawing on very thin correlations, so it is solely for entertainment and not real research. If you are a fan of the story or the cultural impact that literature can have on society, you will get some level of enjoyment from this.

Overall, I enjoyed my reading it. The bits that were a little too fantastical and less credible, still had entertainment value to them. Just take the more dubious chapters with a pinch of salt!

Some pretty interesting bits on the historical relationship between Dodgson & Alice, and the psychological chapter was great. Some parts felt overly repetitious (only need to know how many languages it was published in once), or laundry list like and would have been more effective cutting shorter (surrealism, some of the Japanese adaptations, the Alice-inspired escape rooms/events). The lack of any credibility to the Jack the Ripper claims to me meant it deserved maybe a paragraph/brief mention, not a full chapter of coverage.

First I would like to thank Angela Young Youngman for letting me read and review this book. The Dark Side of Alice in Wonderland is nothing what I expected. I was expecting a story. This is all about the author of Alice in Wonderland. I found it to be very interesting and I truly learned a lot. I have never read Alice in Wonderland but, it is on my list now.

Reading this book, there wasn't anything I hadn't heard before but presented in a logical and readable way. It was interesting and informative.

🐇 Down the rabbit hole 🕳

The Dark Side of Alice in Wonderland
Angela Youngman

Wow, down the rabbit hole you go, in this epic look into everything Alice in Wonderland. It’s origins, the writer, how it has inspired whole cultures, restaurants, manga, retellings, museums exhibits, porn, murder, bannings, and so much more it’s crazy!

I have learned so much, and quite honestly this may be the best non fiction book I have come across in my adult life!

I could write a book about this book so I will just point out some of the details that I found most intriguing.

🐇 The Story was made up by Lewis on the spot to a little girl named Alice, one day under a tree. He then wrote it down and gave it to her as a gift. Eventually he published it as a book, and named it Alice in Wonderland.

🐇 Lewis had a controversial relationship with little girls that in our time would have landed him in jail as a potential child molester.

🐇 Lewis was a man of the church but did not give sermons due to a speech impediment.

🐇 In Japan Alice has become a fashion icon. She is the Japanese concept of “Kawaii”- meaning “Cuteness” and has evolved what is known as the sweet Lolita fashion. She is at the forefront of cosplay, Anime, and Manga inspiration, to this day.

🐇 Due to a very twisted and pornographic version of an Alice retelling featuring “Lolita” the term is often confused now with the Japanese fashion.

🐇 Alice in Wonderland is banned in China. They released their own version. And more retellings were written over time

🐇 Alice was also banned in numerous Schools throughout the United States due to:
Drugs, sexual content, derogatory concepts towards teachers and religion etc..

🐇 Alice has inspired plenty of Porns, dirty books, child pornography rings, and and sex toys

🐇 Could Lewis be Jack the Ripper

🐇 Alice has inspired numerous escape rooms


There is so much more but no more room to write!

Available March 31st

An interesting view of the dark aspects of Alice in Wonderland. The author's obsession with children, especially young girls, his obsession with photography, etc. lead the reader to ponder meanings. Trouble is though, trying to view it through a modern instead of a Victorian view. There are a lot of puzzling aspects regarding the real Alice and Lewis Carroll, and while he wrote a short version of this story for her, after a picnic by the lake, he obviously added to it before publishing it himself. From the Victorian times, through the Freudian times, to the modern there are a lot of interpretations that may or may not be the case. Why the touches of madness? Why the touches of evil? Why the touches of cruelty? I would argue many of the old fairy tales have this and more, so just because it is thought to be a story for children doesn't make it innocent.

A lot of the discussion about Lewis Carroll made him seem a bit odd at times, but while peculiar I didn't get the sense he was abusive or cruel. Some suggested he was a pedophile, some suggested he was a murderer, and so on. I beg to differ without more evidence, but it is also hard not to judge through modern views. In some ways, reading of his taking children on trips and visits (after asking the parents of course) reminded me of Michael Jackson inviting children to stay at his ranch in California. I see a similarity there in both cases.

I did like this book, and I liked how it made me rethink a book that I read many years ago. The twists shown in movies, the different views, all made for a good read. At times got a little repetitive and didactic, which cost a star, but otherwise highly recommend this book. And to quote the Mad Hatter in a riddle "Why is the Raven like a writing desk?" and when Alice said she didn't know and asked him for the answer he replied "I haven't the slightest idea." Sometimes a book needs to be enjoyed for the journey.

The Dark Side of Alice in Wonderland is the first time anyone has investigated the vast range of darker, more threatening aspects of this famous story and the way Alice has been transformed over the years. This is the Alice of horror films, Halloween, murder and mystery, spectral ghosts, political satire, mental illnesses, weird feasts, Lolita, Tarot, pornography and steampunk.

I think I misunderstood the description of this book and did not realise it was more about the original author of Alice in Wonderland and the dark side of him. If you are interested in Lewis Carroll, then this is going to be a great book, but as someone who didn't know much about him, I found myself skipping and skim-reading the not interesting parts and found it hard to follow.

Some parts are utterly shocking and they are the interesting parts that made me like some of the book. This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed overall and would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

Thanks NetGalley, Pen & Sword History and Angela Youngman for an ARC to review.
It was a wish come true :)
At first i was confused as the book didn't meet my expectations, when I picked the book I thought it was discussing the more sinister interpretations of Alice in Wonderland itself.
It turned out to be discussing the dark side of Carroll and how the book resulted in all sorts of peculiar arts.
It introduces lots of interesting information about Carroll's life, movies, books, video games, music and all sorts of creation inspired by Alice in Wonderland.

This book flows really well, but the formatting of the pdf was off a little when trying to divide up each chapter. This book is definitely a interesting insight that was easily understandable even to someone with a learning disability like me. There was so much information that I have never heard before, even as someone best friends with a girl who’s hyper fixation is Alice in wonderland. I will definitely be recommending this to my group of friends and anyone that will listen. #NetGalley

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy of this book to review.

The Dark Side of Alice in Wonderland is a collection of essays that describe how Alice in Wonderland has become a cultural phenomenon throughout the world. It describes how Alice has inspired and influenced clothing trends in Japan, music, art, movie (some times adult-movies) and book adaptations, and also murder-mystery theater. The book also delves into aspects of Dodgson’s life that served as inspiration for his books.

One particular chapter I especially enjoyed was a critical read on the mental illnesses that the different characters display.

Overall, an interesting read if you are a fan of the Alice books. While some chapters seemed to be a bit if a stretch for content (the Jack the Ripper chapter) overall it was decently researched and presented.

To be honest this has not been one of my better reads so far in 2021. Going into this I had some basic knowledge of Lewis Carroll from literature classes and had read both "Alice in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass". This book does a good job of filling in Carroll's history and of the "real" Alice and her family and who they were to Lewis Carroll. The history of Carroll before his fame for the book and the story of how the real Alice came to be his inspiration for the Wonderland Alice was very interesting. I learned a lot of facts and details that I didn't know about him.
Some of the things I learned did raise an eyebrow here and there, some things that were acceptable in the Victorian days are sure to cause an upheaval today. This of course leads to much of the "dark" questions about Lewis Carroll and about the true meaning of the Alice stories. The answer to these questions will never be fully known to us and I am fine with that.
What I did not like about this book was the telling of the same thing over and over. It seemed to me that once a subject was introduced the author went on and on repeating the same thing, just changing tiny details here and there as if trying to make the book longer. An example is when talking about Japan and how Alice is portrayed there. The telling of the Lolita Alice was fine, but then it was repeated for pages and pages. At this point I began skimming through pages for a new subject, once found I read the first couple of pages and when it got to retelling over and over I continued my skimming. I did this throughout the book unfortunately.
I don't want to be harsh, if you don't mind rereading the same thing over again then this book is filled with interesting facts and theories on the meanings of Alice, dark meanings and not so dark. It does present interesting questions to ponder. So if you can get through it you will gain a lot of knowledge and insight into lesser known aspects about the books and their author.
Thank you to NetGalley and Pen & Sword Publishers for the free ARC of this e-book, I am leaving my honest review in return.

This book was not I expected. There was lots of information about Lewis Carroll and his relationship with Alice and information about the real Alice and her family.. I found it really hard to get into and skipped a lot of the pages only read what I found the interesting . I definitely recommend this book of fans of Lewis Carroll and Alice in wonderland. I really like the book cover and very eye catching which is the reason why I wanted to read it. Thank you NetGalley and Angela Youngman

*3.5 stars.

I really enjoyed reading this, I don't typically read non-fiction very often but I recall hearing 'the darker side of Alice' when I was younger and always being intrigued by this so when I saw this, I definitely wanted to give it a read.

I went into this with a basic knowledge of Lewis Carroll (the rumours about his relationship with the real Alice) however I had no idea about the 'friendships' he had with other young women and children. This book picked up for me when we got into the universe of Alice, I guess you could say and how it had impaced the four corners of the world and has expanded. I thought this was great especially as I have participated in reading retellings of Alice, watching movies, afternoon teas inspired by Alice etc. so it was really interesting seeing it all come together.

The only thing I would say is a couple of the chapters felt unnecessary and as though they were added to lengthen the book. The 'Occult Alice' particularly springs to mind whilst partially interesting, it didn't need it's own chapter at all as I felt there was enough about this topic to warrant it.

I don't really know what to make of this. I just got a lot of information at once. It was hard to not find myself skimming.
I knew absolutely nothing about Lewis Carroll personally before going into this. And honestly I left this a little confused.
But I think after a while some of the information will sink in and make sense as I think back.

The Dark Side of Alice in Wonderland is a comprehensive look at a children's book written over 150 years ago that still influences popular culture and courts controversy to this day. The book is obviously the result of meticulous research and details the various interpretation's of Lewis Carroll's creation through the years,from suggestions that it's a veiled occult work,a piece of political satire, a parable of the effects of drug taking and several others. Amongst other things "Alice" has influenced art,fashion,computer games and several variations of the original story in print and on film.
Carroll himself ,and his controversial relationship with Alice Liddell,who the fictional character was based on is investigated in depth and from someone who used to think the issue was with his fondness for one young girl I was shocked to read the reality. He actively sought out "girl-friends",female children to the rest of us,and was always actively pursuing more. He'd openly write to parents asking for access to their children and often for permission to photograph them naked. More amazingly ,many parents he contacted agreed. While author Angela Youngman tells us that attitudes were different back then I read enough to find him quite a loathsome and manipulative creature, as "different times" or not so did many of his contemporaries. I hadn't realised that Nabakov was inspired to write Lolita after translating Alice in Wonderland into Russian and said Humbert Humbert could just as well be called Carroll Carroll.
This a fascinating and well-written book that comprehensively covers the whole "Alice" phenomenon from what influenced its writing to it's incorporation into the Steampunk phenomenon of today and just about every facet of it in between.

"Was the enigmatic Lewis Carroll full of secrets and surprises, or was he just an innocent writer?"

I'll start by saying that this is a very thorough and well researched book. It starts by looking at the history of Lewis Carroll/Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, providing us with evidence and suggestions around the mysteries of his life - questionable relationships with children and young women being one main theme.

The book then goes through a wide range of chapters showing how Alice has become such a phenomenon for things like horror films, Lolita, pornography and steampunk. I especially liked reading about all the pop culture references that you may be aware of but don't even realise how directly related they are to Alice (such as Marilyn Mason's Eat Me, Drink Me, references in The Matrix and more recently - Black Mirror's 'Bandersnatch').

The facts about the theatre show in The Vaults in London were super interesting to read through, having been to the show myself some years ago. (I wish I'd gone twice now!) Also the parts linking to drugs and mental health. This book has left me with an awful lot to think about andd I won't think of Alice in Wonderland in the same way as I used to! A must read for any Alice In Wonderland fans and fanatics!