#Titanuary ‘Alice’ by Christina Henry

About the book…

In a warren of crumbling buildings and desperate people called the Old City, there stands a hospital with cinderblock walls which echo with the screams of the poor souls inside.

In the hospital, there is a woman. Her hair, once blonde, 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…

Then, one night, a fire at the hospital gives the woman a chance to escape, tumbling out of the hole that imprisoned her, leaving her free to uncover the truth about what happened to her all those years ago.

Only something else has escaped with her. Something dark. Something powerful.

And to find the truth, she will have to track this beast to the very heart of the Old City, where the rabbit waits for his Alice.

It took me about 20 pages into ‘Alice’ when it hit me that I needed to slow down…there wasn’t going to be a lot of this left in the near future, thankfully though, there are the follow up novels to look forward to!

This is not the Alice that you think you know, this a dark and twisty narrative on a theme of mental health, locking those who do not follow a set social set of expectations away, and then letting them rot.

Bloody, bruised and battered, Alice has gone into the forbidden Old City, and emerged, days later, bloody and bruised and raving. Locked away in an asylum next door to the fearsome Hatcher-so called because he, similarly to Alice, was seen to have been in possession of a bloody axe, severed body parts, and little to no memory of what had occurred.

This is Alice, a broken creature who has been abandoned by the family that subconsciously blames her for going where she shouldn’t , ignoring advice to avoid this place with no idea why. The narrative of girls being punished for doing the opposite of what we are told is acceptable-sit still, be quiet, do not question-is repaid with subjugation, medication and imprisonment.

Dark and dripping in malice, the novel pulls no punches as punishment for Alice’s transgression is sexual assault and physical assault, her currency as an untouched , virginal child forever spoilt. She has glimpses of a man with green eyes and long ears, known as a Rabbit which haunts her, as the Jabberwocky haunts Hatcher.

A nighttime fire gives both the opportunity to escape, but on fleeing the asylum , even more questions are raised in the reader’s mind, on top of what has happened to Alice, who did it, and how can they get revenge. Who set the fire and with what intent?

Are they friend or foe?

Are the two principle characters safer outside these walls, and now the metaphorical prison has gone, can they free their minds to work out who has betrayed them?

An intriguing, thrilling a d gripping tale, I loved the de-sanitisation of Lewis Carroll’s central themes, Christina Henry puts them on a centre stage and is unafraid to explore the mental and physical constraints of patriarchal control.

It stands as reinterpretation and a re-invention, with teeth and claws and gore galore.

Each of the characters you think you know, is bitterly twisted and yet, somehow, you always know who the heroine is.

About the author…

Christina Henry is the author of the Chronicles Of Alice duology, ‘Alice’ and ‘Red Queen’, a dark and twisted take on Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, as well as ‘Lost Boy’, an origin story of Captain Hook from Peter Pan,‘The Mermaid’, a reworking of ‘The Little Mermaid’ and ‘The Girl In Red’, a steampunk Red Riding Hood.

She is also the author of the national bestselling Black Wings series (‘Black Wings’, ‘Black Night’, ‘Black Howl’, ‘Black Lament’, ‘Black City’, ‘Black Heart’ and ‘Black Spring’) featuring Agent of Death Madeline Black and her popcorn-loving gargoyle Beezle.

She enjoys running long distances, reading anything she can get her hands on and watching movies with samurai, zombies and/or subtitles in her spare time. She lives in Chicago with her husband and son.

Links-http://www.christinahenry.net/

Twitter @C_Henry_Author @TitanBooks