Return to Wonderland

My thanks to Pan Macmillan/Macmillan Children’s Books for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Return to Wonderland’ in exchange for an honest review.This collection of eleven short stories inspired by Lewis Carroll’s Alice was a delight from start to finish. Full marks to its editor(s) and the authors who collectively made this a worthy companion volume to the Alice books. It clearly has been created with love and respect by Macmillan as part of their ‘The Macmillan Alice’ collection.The collection was whimsical, surrealistic and very much in keeping with the spirit of the original books. Each story begins with a short introduction by its author telling of their individual connection to the Alice books and why they elected to write the story they did.All eleven stories were fresh and quite brilliant as each focused on supporting characters including the Mock Turtle, Caterpillar, and Cheshire Cat among others. The Queen of Hearts featured in a few. However, I will give a brief shoutout to ‘Plum Cakes at Dawn Or, What Happened When the Dormouse Went to Night Court’ by Lauren St John for its subtle ecological message.Seeing how beautifully presented the hardback edition was I bought my own copy. In this each story is prefaced by an illustration by Laura Barrett done in a striking black silhouette style. She also created the beautifully detailed cover art.While this is a children’s book suggested as suitable for readers aged 9-12, I feel that it is a book that every lover of the Alice stories will treasure.Highly recommended.

Loved this book. I love anything Alice in Wonderland and this didn’t disappoint. I loved reading the different takes on what the other characters are up to in Wonderland. Each story was so well written and left me wanting more which is an awesome sign of a brilliantly written story

Perfect five stars

Beautiful book

Wonderful book . Highly recommend