Retellings are a popular way of taking a story you have heard multiple times and putting a creative twist on them. One classic story that has gone through a number of retellings, both creative and classic, is “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll. The original story was published 150 years ago on November 26th, and since then there have been some really interesting developments revolving around the fictional world he called Wonderland.

“Insanity” by Cameron Jace is just one example of these retellings that really does stand apart from the rest. The story follows the character of Alice Wonder who has been locked up in a mental institution for accidentally killing all of her classmates. Now another one of the institution’s inmates, named Professor Carter Pillar, has asked the doctor in charge to release Alice during the day to find Wonderland monsters that have been reincarnated into modern day criminals. So, Alice is a mental patient at night and an Oxford student by day who has to decode a number of different things that all relate back to Carroll and the original story of Wonderland. But, the question throughout the whole book is does Wonderland really exist or are all of these people really insane?

Insanity has always been a theme with books that revolve around the original idea of Wonderland, so it’s really no surprise that Jace decides to focus on that theme. However, “Insanity” really does take that theme to a different level. You really do wonder if these characters are insane or if there is something wonderlandian going on with their world. The other nice thing about this version of the original story is that the characters are related to their original counterpart, like Alice and the Caterpillar, but the ties are so loose that they can be considered different.

If you want to find a wonderland story that suits your personality, check out Goodreads where they have a list of some popular versions the original story. “Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland” has been an inspiring part of the literary world of a long time so it’s really no surprise that authors and filmmakers of all kinds have taken Carroll’s original story as a form of inspiration. There are numerous retellings about Alice’s crazy journey through a world she is sure doesn’t exist and I don’t think that the world is just going to stop with Cameron Jace’s one of a kind idea. Wonderland has been alive for the last 150 year and it’s not ready to die yet.