by Heather Fawcett
First sentence: “I was late running away, of course.”
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Release date: October 6, 2026
Review copy provided by the publisher.
Content: There are some intense moments that may be scary for younger readers. It will be in the Young Adult Science Fiction/Fantasy section of the bookstore.

Alice has been wanting to get back to Wonderland ever since she went there as a young teen. Now she’s 18, and her parents are threatening to marry her off to an older baron, and she wants none of it. So she runs off to Wonderland for good. Once there, she discovers that there are holes – hollows – in the world and the Queen of Hearts has gathered all the Alices from across time and the world to kill the mock dragons and heal Wonderland. Whoever does so will be considered The Alice and everyone else will be banished. So, Alice decides that what she needs to do is just that: become The Alice.

In any less capable hands, this story would have been trite and silly. But Fawcett brings a depth and charm to it that makes it work for me. It’s not a retelling – Fawcett makes references to both Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass – but an expansion of the story. And I thought it was clever and fun. It wasn’t deep, though Alice learns about the wider Upland – and how her situation is quite privledged compared to some of the other Alices. It gives the story a depth and makes it stand on its own. There is a small romance, of sorts, but it’s really not worth mentioning. This is Alice’s story, and she figures out how to make friends, solve problems, and be her own person.

It was a delight to read.