The Escape of Alice: A Christmas Fantasy

What if Alice slipped out of her storybook and into a world that had moved on without her? Vincent Starrett's 1919 fantasy answers that question with wit, warmth, and surprising depth. Alice escapes the static illustrations of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and finds herself in a dusty antiquarian shop on a snowy Christmas Eve, where she begins to grow from a tiny picture-book figure into a real girl of thirteen. What follows is a luminous wandering through a city transformed by the holiday: Santas crowd the streets, shop windows blaze with lights, and Alice encounters a wooden toy maker who serves as Santa's assistant. But this isn't simply a nostalgic Christmas card. Starrett lets Alice see the commercialization, the rushed loneliness beneath the tinsel, and forces her to reckon with what it means to grow up while still holding onto wonder. The tale concludes with her return to the book, but something has changed. This is a quiet meditation on memory and the stories we need to survive growing up. Perfect for anyone who has ever wanted to climb back inside the books that made them.