"What happened to those left behind when Alice went to Wonderland?
When Alice fell down the rabbit-hole she found Wonderland as rife with inconsistent rules and abrasive egos as the world she left behind. But how did Victorian Oxford react to Alice's disappearance?
Gregory Maguire turns his imagination to the question of underworlds, undergrounds, underpinnings and understandings old and new, offering an inventive spin on Lewis Carroll's enduring tale, this year celebrating its 150th. birthday. Ada, a friend mentioned briefly in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, sets out to visit Alice, but arriving a moment too late, 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 bring her safely home from this surreal world below the world. The White Rabbit, the Cheshire Cat, and the bloodthirsty Queen of Hearts 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.
Either way, everything that happens next is After Alice."
After Alice
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