Unbirthday
Liz Braswell, Lorna Bennett
Audio CD
(Blackstone Pub, Sept. 22, 2020)
What if Wonderland was in peril and Alice was very, very late?Alice is different than other eighteen-year-old ladies in Kexford, which is perfectly fine with her. SheÂ’d rather spend golden afternoons with her trusty camera or in her aunt VivianÂ’s lively salon, ignoring her sisterÂ’s wishes that she stop all that “nonsense” and become a “respectable” member of society. Alice is happy to meander to Miss. YaoÂ’s teashop or to visit the children playing in the Square. SheÂ’s also interested in learning more about the young lawyer she met there, but just because sheÂ’s curious, of course, not because he was sweet and charming.But when Alice develops photographs she has recently taken about town, familiar faces of old suddenly appear in the place of her actual subjects—the Queen of Hearts, the Mad Hatter, the Caterpillar. ThereÂ’s something eerily off about them, even for Wonderland creatures. And as Alice develops a self-portrait, she finds the most disturbing image of all—a badly injured dark-haired girl asking for AliceÂ’s help. Mary Ann.Returning to the place of nonsense from her childhood, Alice finds herself on a mission to stop the Queen of HeartsÂ’ tyrannical rule and to find her place in both worlds. But will she able to do so before the End of Time?