After Such Kindness

Gaynor Arnold

Much has already been written about the relationship between Lewis Carroll and Alice Liddell, his inspiration for Alice in Wonderland, but this in no way detracts from the merits of this novel which covers the same ground. Readers today will find the relationship extremely disturbing. You may not like the characters but you will certainly believe in them and the rarified Oxford atmosphere in which they live. A compulsive read.

Extract

I catch my breath when I think how easily I might have missed her. And even so, have to remind myself that she will soon be gone from me, because in spite of her slight and childish form she is already eleven years old. I see the number like a shadow of doom upon her, signalling the end of the golden years, the moment when she will start to spin away from me like a top: slowly at first; and then so fast-so horribly fast - that I won't be able to recognize her. And when she stops spinning, she'll be a woman.

Parallels