LOCAL author Vanessa Tait, the great-granddaughter of the real Alice in Wonderland, has written her own novel based on the relationship between Alice Liddell, Lewis Carroll and Mary Prickett, Alice’s jealous governess. The Looking Glass House was published by Corvus earlier this month, to excellent reviews. The Daily Telegraph decribed it as being ‘sensuous and lyrical, infused with Wonderland imagery and historically accurate’.

Vanessa grew up, and still lives, in Long Newnton, just outside Tetbury, where she was immersed in the world of Alice, and she grew up immersed in all her papers and photographs and treasures.

Vanessa will only be doing one local event to celebrate publication of the book.

This Friday, 24th July, at 7pm, Vanessa will be reading from and discussing her book at the Market House in Tetbury.

Hereward Corbett, of the Yellow-Lighted Bookshop in Tetbury, said: "We are both lucky and delighted to have Vanessa doing an event with us. It’s a remarkable book, all the more so because Alice is not the star of the story. It will be a really interesting evening."

Tickets are £7.50 in advance (which will includes £5 off the price of the book) from The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop, of which there are branches in Nailsworth and Tetbury.