Inventing Wonderland, by Jackie Wullschlager (Methuen, £12.99 in UK)

Most of the masterpieces of English writing for children seem to have been created by men who emotionally could never wholly …

Most of the masterpieces of English writing for children seem to have been created by men who emotionally could never wholly give up the fantasies and dreams of childhood. This work examines the lives of Lewis Carroll, Edward Lear, J.M. Barrie, Kenneth Grahame and A.A.

Milne, whose books remain classics of their kind. Some of these were lifelong bachelors, but others were convivial married men, and Milne lumbered his unfortunate son with the "Christopher Robin" image - which understandably ended with the son, in adulthood, entirely breaking off relations with his father. As a study it is eloquently written and though some of the psychological content does seem faintly tendentious, it is quite free from psychobabble.