When I first saw it, I thought Alice in Sunderland was a variation on the traditional Alice story; not an adaption or retelling but some kind of visual twist on the classic. Okay I was wrong - I was really really wrong. I have never read anything like this book and I can't imagine the kind of creative mind that put it together. It's a history of England, focusing on one specific section (Sunderland - in the northeast section of the country) and then folding into that the story of Charles Dodgson and the Liddell family and how they converged resulting the Alice in Wonderland. But none of that explains how sumptuous this novel is. The visuals are stunning - STUNNING - and the way author Bryan Talbot moves between drawing styles and back and forth from illustration to photography to collage is so inspiring.

He makes you want to create beautiful and interesting things.

Here is how Talbot described the book to PW:

Alice in Sunderland is a 320-page graphic novel with the themes of storytelling, history and myth in a form I've been describing as a "dream documentary." It is not one story but literally dozens, short and long, the central spines being the history of Sunderland and the story of Lewis Carroll and Alice Liddell (the "real" Alice), both of whom had connections with the city and surrounding area.

I really never thought too much about Dodgson (or Carroll) until I read Katie Roiphe's novel, Still She Haunts Me. Prior to that I had completely bought into the myth that Dodgson was a shy mathematician who could only befriend children and was crushed by some scandal (or perceived scandal) with Alice Liddell. Talbot blows that completely out of hte water (explaining who devised it and making suggestions as to why) but Roiphe's novel, which has stayed with me for years, really got me curious. Roiphe plays more with the legend but she raises questions and suggests so much. Even Talbot does not know if Dodgson was in love with Alice - it's one possibility that the rift was caused because he wanted to marry Alice when she became of marriageable age - but the diary entries that explain the rift are long missing. Talbot does explain who had a stake in creating the Dodgson myth and why (and how it was crafted) and all of that goes a long way toward exposing just how much we don't know about Dodgson's true motivations. But why he wrote Alice is only a small part of the story here; much more of it is spent in trying to explain how he wrote it and the places and people who were likely direct inspirations on the final book.

I don't think I've ever read such a well told general history of a place before this book. It's not indepth but it's not supposed to be - it's supposed to show you just how many times the area around Sunderland changed hands and the many different kinds of people who have been involved in the development of England as we know it today. It's a visual history in the same vein that The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam is a visual biography. (And in the same way that Barbara Hodgson writes what are termed illustrated travel histories and illustrated novels.) I think that Talbot is pushing the boundaries of graphic novel with this book - I'd even go so far as to say it isn't a graphic novel. To me a graphic novel is a novel told in comic book format, but still a novel first and foremost. That's not what Alice in Sunderland is and by shelving it with graphic novels it is likely losing some of its reading audience - most certainly fans of Alice in Wonderland but also those interested in literary history, history of England and creative uses of visual storytelling. (Fans of Dan Eldon and Peter Beard should take note of this one for sure.)

Alice in Sunderland is one of the most unique books I have seen in a long long time. More than just pretty to look at, it is a book with substance that bears careful and thoughtful reading. I can't recommend it enough - just a wonderful reading experience.