Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

by Lewis Carroll

Bored on a riverbank, Alice follows a white rabbit with a pocket watch down a hole and lands in a world that runs on nonsense. She shrinks and grows, attends a tea party that never ends, debates with a caterpillar and a grinning cat, and plays croquet with a queen who orders executions on a whim. Lewis Carroll, an Oxford mathematician, first told the story to the daughters of a friend before publishing it in 1865. The book's wordplay, invented logic and parodies of Victorian schoolroom verse have kept it in print ever since, and it is read as happily by adults as by children. The tone is brisk, dry and oddly fearless, with Alice refusing to be intimidated by anyone. Read it online in your browser on Vinteuil; the first chapter is free.