Clara in Blunderland

Caroline Lewis is a pen-name, that of the team of Edward Harold Begbie, J. Stafford Ransome, and M. H. Temple, who wrote both "Clara in Wonderland" and a sequel, "Lost in Wonderland." These two novels deal with British frustration and anger about the Boer War and with Britain's political leadership at the beginning of the twentieth century. -- But this book is not a stuffy study in early twentieth-century British politics -- it is a splendid parody, amusing as much for what it parodies as for its reflection of Lewis Carroll's originals, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking-Glass." Now, in 2010, more than a century from the book's first publication, "Clara in Blunderland" has to stand on its own in a way that it didn't in 1902. But it spans the century surprisingly well... Politics and politicians haven't changed much -- it seems -- in a century. That may be regrettable -- but at least Caroline Lewis can still make us laugh about it!