Wonderland Books In Order

Publication Order of Wonderland Books

The “Wonderland” series is a set of novels by Irina Shapiro, a cozy mystery and paranormal romance author. Shapiro was born in Moscow, Russia but her parents moved to the US when she was eleven years old. In the United States, she attended Bernard M. Baruch College from where she graduated with a business degree. She then went on to work in Export/Import and advertising before she became a fiction author. While she never set out to become a professional author, she now has more than thirty five novels over several series. She is known for incorporating her love for travel and history into her novels to create a textured and exciting backdrop for her characters. She currently lives with her husband and children in New Jersey.

Irina Shapiro has a degree in Marketing and International Trade but while these have nothing to do with fiction writing, she decided to make a career out of fiction. She had always been a huge reader of all manner of genre fiction but she did not think she had it in her to become an author. When she first published “The Hands of Time,” her debut novel in 2011, there was no one who was more surprised than her. In her childhood days she always thought she would grow up to become an archeologist. She loved history and found it fascinating to dig into clues from the past to learn the stories of the people who lived in centuries gone by.

The “Wonderland” series by Irina Shapiro is the story of the life and times of Lord Hugo Everly, a man who lived in the 17th century. He had always been a mysterious character and hence when he goes missing, it becomes a fascinating chase to learn what happened. The stories also move forward in time to the twenty first century where Neve Ashley is a forensic archeologist that investigates fascinating mysteries from the past. In “The Passage,” the first novel of the series Hugo Everly goes missing and future generations do not know what to make of it. Fast forward to 2013 and Neve Ashley the forensic archeologist finds a secret passage and this leads her towards finally resolving the mystery of the missing lord. In “Wonderland,” the second novel of the series Neve and Hugo team up to try to save their friend Max from an unjust execution. But they are betrayed by the last person they ever thought would turn on them. In the third novel of the series, Neve and Hugo make their home in Paris only to find that peace continues to elude them. In the meantime Max is also struggling to adapt to life on a slave plantation in Barbados.

The “Wonderland” series of novels starts off with the novel “The Passage” set in 1685. Lord Hugo Everly is an influential man who supports the Duke of Monmouth, a protestant upstart. But Everly disappears just before the breakout of the Monmouth Rebellion and historians had always wondered what had happened to the man. Fast forward to 2013 and Neve Ashley who is working as a film production location scout finds a secret tunnel that may be the answer to what happened to the lord Everly. She leaves Everly Manor without informing anyone of her find and comes back later alone to find the man she had met in the passage a few days earlier. Her instinct told her to never return but she could not given that she knew the man was in impending danger. But she goes back only to find herself taken hostage by the Lord she was trying to warn. She is now trapped in 1865 and her fate is intertwined with that of Everly. It is a future none of them ever imagined.

“Wonderland,” the second novel of the series sees a pregnant Neve and Hugo back in London. They are now trying to rescue Max who is stuck in France. The man is descended from the Lord’s sister and he had also followed Neve back in time only to be mistaken for Hugo. They now need to find a way to help Max without exposing Hugo as a pretend collaborator with the Protestants when he is actually working for the Catholic cause undercover. While it may be impossible to get Max’s charges thrown out, they manage to get the courts to lay aside the death sentence and instead condemn him to indentured servitude in the colonies.

“Sins of Omission,” the third novel of the “Wonderland” series of novels sees Neve and Hugo settling in Paris. They are hoping they can finally enjoy some peace following years of turmoil in British politics. But they may not be that safe, particularly in light of the revelation that everyone has something to hide. In the meantime, Max is still adapting to life in Barbados where he works as a indentured servant in a sugar plantation. He still has not made the decision on whether to accept or reject help from a dangerous and unexpected source. His decision may prove fatal.