It may seem that this book has two heroes. One was an Oxford graduate, a pious clergyman, a pedant who gave sermons and boring lectures on mathematics, was fond of photography,, as a curator of the College Club, was responsible for replenishing the wine cellar and monitoring the quality of dishes, developed a method for calculating the ratings of tennis players and thought about optimizing parliamentary elections. The other is a master of paradoxes, an inventive and cheerful storyteller who sincerely loved his little listeners, one of the most famous authors of literary fairy tales, returning readers to the world of childhood. How did the venerable mathematics teacher Charles Lutwidge Dodgson turn into the writer Lewis Carroll? Why was his only trip abroad to Russia? What did he spend his considerable fees on? What did the girl Alice, who became the heroine of his fairy tale duology, mean to him? These questions are answered by the book of Nina Demurova, a remarkable translator who, half a century ago, opened the wonderful land of Carroll’s heroes to Russian-speaking readers.