A fascinating look at the family dynamics around this pivotal time, and also a lovely story of Alice's journey to selfknowledge.  What makes this unique is the complete but in-canon rewriting of Alistair's character and 'defection'.  Loved it!  Thank you so much!

 

Your wonderful story was, however, marred by minor spelling and grammar errors.  Using homonyms instead of the word you wanted, and using present tense when the rest of the sentence uses past are the most common.  Be careful!  As a reader, it really throws me off every time I encounter a mistake, and detracts a little from the suspension of disbelief you so expertly create.  For example, in this chapter you accidentally use 'advise' instead of 'advice' - I had to read the sentence twice before I could continue enjoying the story.

Author's Response:

Thank you for such an incredible and well-thought out review.

At the time I wrote this, I didn't have a beta to catch silly little mistakes such as those a spelling check would miss.  It's so easy when re-reading your own work to miss things like this, simply because the brain knows precisely what you meant to say.  At some point my beloved beta will have to do a run-through so I can tweak this story, but I've been keeping her busy lately.

To my fellow reviewers,

Just a reminder to go nominate this story at http://theindietwificawards.com/nominations.aspx for the Indie Awards. They recognize lesser known stories. From all the comments I read, I think we all agree this story deserves it. Nominations are cumulative, so the more nominations a story recieves the more likely it is to go to the next round. Don't just notice that this story is on the list and think the job is done, it isn't.

Cheers and happy nominating

Author's Response:

Thank you so much!  <3  You're a sweetheart.  This is, without question, my baby.

Also, there is a DIFFERENT story with the SAME NAME on the prelim nominees page, so do NOT assume that "it's already done".  Because it's NOT necessarily.

Oh, and a romantic ending to boot!!!

Love, Love, Love, Love, Love, Love, Love, Love, Love, Love, Love, Love, Love, Love.

That's all for you, babe!

Ohhhhh, another plot!!!  Vicki is being soooo nasty, not only to Edward, but to Alice.  Was Vicki in the same institution?  with Alice?  at the same time????  She had fallen for James, on one of his many visits.

This is sooooo good!!!

Author's Response:

We actually don't KNOW Victoria went to see Maria.  Jasper suggests that she must have learned of the idea while down south, but we don't know if that's true and who gave her the idea.

 

That said, you're clever enough to remember that one line in Eclipse, so head over to TTLG and stay tuned, because this one paragraph in here will become much more clear in the sequel.

So clever! Love it!

Just tugs at your heart strings, doesn't it?

Ya, this lemon was a little weak....They were a lot more naughty in 1949.

Author's Response:

It's an R story.  I had to draw a line, alas.  The restraint I put myself under for the R rating here is why I said screw it and went NC 17 for Through The Looking-Glass (the sequel).  That and I'm super-shy about smut writing!  It took me doing Disc Jockeys (NC 17) and getting positive reviews for it to feel up to more smutty smut ;)  Or tangier lemons, whichever you prefer.

Eventually, for this series, I'm going to do a smutfest about Alice and Jasper's honeymoon.  Mmm I look forward to that!

Mental hospitals were just like jails to house those who were uncontrollable.  Appalling conditions, especially in 1918.

Even drugged, Alice knows what's up.

So Good!!! I love how the story is unravelling.  I'm even tracing their path on a map too!

This is sooooo good.

I really like this idea.  It's marvellously put together.

I am at such a loss for words right now.

I have been waiting to find a story that centered around Alice for a while, but this was more than I had ever hoped to find. The plot you've come up with is sheer amazing and the style in which you've written it absolutely beautiful.

This was so cleverly interlaced with canon that my mind shall know it as Alice-canon from here on out. Stunning!

I'm so glad to know you've continued this and that there is even more for me to read.

Thank you - so much - for sharing it with us!

Author's Response:

Thank you so much!  You're joining a wonderful collective willing to petition to make this Alice-canon forever, and I happen to have decided that even if Steph fills in the blanks that this version works so well.

I found your other story and stopped to read this one. Brilliant... that is all I can say.