A new book is set to overturn the contemporary reputation of author Lewis Carroll by saying that he was a lover of children, not an abuser.
Edward Wakeling, who has collated thousands of documents dating back to Carroll's lifetime, including previously unpublished letters and reminiscences of those who knew him for over 40 years, said that they reveal Carroll to be a sociable man who has suffered a character assassination and enjoyed adult company as much as children's, the Independent reported.
The contemporary image of Alice in Wonderland author Lewis Carroll means he is viewed as a social misfit with an unhealthy interest in little girls, taking nude photographs of them by the hundred.
The author said that it is about time people cleared up the pervading false myth about his unhealthy relationship with children and that children appear in "no more than 1 per cent" of Carroll's 3,000 photographs, adding that body studies were common practice among Victorian photographers. He also criticised "biographers who really don't do their homework" or others who drum up controversy.
He said that there must be 30 or 40 biographies since his nephew wrote the first one in 1898. People who write about Carroll realise that they're not going to get their book published unless they can find a new angle.
Wakeling will release his research later this month in a new book titled 'Lewis Carroll: The Man and His Circle'.