In the hospital, there is a woman. Her hair, once blond, hangs in tangles down her back. She doesn’t remember why she’s in such a terrible place – just a tea party long ago, and long ears and blood…
Suffice to say, this is not Walt Disney’s “Alice in Wonderland,” and not a book for children nor anyone who is bothered by violence including rape and torture.
This a much different tale than anything wonderland-related you’ve read or seen before. Alice, from Christina Henry, tells us of a deeply disturbed girl, having been found “covered in blood, babbling about tea and a rabbit” and subsequently thrown in an institution. She doesn’t remember much, and her only friend is the inmate in the next room who speaks to her through a mouse-hole in the wall.
What follows isn’t quite a horror story, it’s not frightening as such; but much of what we learn has happened to Alice and continues to happen in the Old City is truly horrible.
So, the question becomes… Is this the true story of Alice — Is the “wonderland” with which we’re so familiar just a product of her mind trying to protect herself from the truth?