Lewis Carroll is a biography written by Edward Wakeling, a former chairman of the Lewis carroll Society, he owns one of the finest collections of Carroll material in private hands. He was also involved in editing the ten volumes of Lewis Carroll’s Dairies. Basically – this book is probably as close as you can get to having been written by Carroll himself. Wakeling is the real deal.
The book starts with a chronology of Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson)’s life from his birth to death. The rest of the book expands upon all that as well as includes more detail on his family – including a family tree. There are illustrations throughout the book as well.
I had only known Lewis Carroll as the author of the Alice books, so it was nice to find out more about him and some of his other works. The book is just over 400 pages, but since the author is an expert on Carroll, it is full of wonderfully researched information. I am not sure there is a more thorough biography out there and I appreciate all the effort that must have gone in to putting this together. I enjoyed reading it.
I received a free e-copy of this book in order to write this review, I was not otherwise compensated.
About the Book
Ahead of the 150th anniversary of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in 2015
A definitive new biography of Lewis Carroll drawing upon previously unpublished material, resolving key myths surrounding the beloved Victorian author.
Born Charles Lutwidge Dodgson in 1862, Lewis Carroll (the pen-name he adopted) remains a source of continuing fascination. We all know him as the bestselling author of the children’s classic,Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, but he was also pioneering photographer, mathematician, businessman and writer of nonsense verse.
Drawing upon his personal database of nearly 6,000 letters, mostly never before published, Edward Wakeling fills the gaps left by earlier biographies and resolves some of the key myths that surround Lewis Carroll, such as his friendships with children and his drug-taking.