In the Shadow of the Dream Child: A New Understanding of Lewis Carroll

Karoline Leach suggests that modern biography has fallen victim to a powerful Lewis Carroll mythology that has obscured the reality of Charles Dodgson's life. She has discovered hitherto-unpublished evidence from the Dodgson archives and uses this, along with his letters and unpublished diaries, to reveal that the man behind the pseudonym was very far from the 'dreamer of children.' In this fascinating book she challenges the basis of the legend and, in place of this familiar image, she provides a picture of a charming and manipulative man who adored -- and was adored by -- females of all ages and who enjoyed unfettered relationships with women that sometimes brought him into conflict with his Victorian world. She explores areas of his life that previous biographers have largely ignored and -- perhaps most controversially -- suggests that the guilt that haunted his most creative years was caused not by a passion for the real Alice, but by a relationship with another member of her family.