Elphie - Large Print by Gregory Maguire (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

What happened to young Elphaba before her witchy powers took hold in Wicked? Almost 30 years after the publication of the original novel, for the first time Gregory Maguire reveals the story of prickly young Elphie, the future Wicked Witch of the West--setting the stage for the blockbuster international phenomenon that is Wicked: The Musical.

Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, will grow to have a feisty and somewhat uncompromising character in adult life. But she is always a one-off, from her infancy; Elphie is the riveting coming-of-age story of a very peculiar and relatable young girl.

Young Elphie is shaped and molded by the behaviors of her promiscuous mother, Melena, and her pious father, Frex. She suffers ordinary childhood jealousies when her sister, saintly Nessarose, and brother, junior felon Shell, arrive. She first encounters the mistreatment of the Animal populations of Oz, which live adjacent to but not intertwined with human settlements, haunted by a Monkey and receiving aid from Dwarf Bears. She thrashes through her first bruising attempts at friendship, a possible lifeline from her tricky family life. And she gleans the benefits of an education, haphazard though it must be--until she arrives at the doors of Shiz University, about to meet the radiant creature that is Galinda.

Elphie is destined to be a witch; she bears the markings from childhood--most evidently in her green skin but more obscurely and profoundly in her cunning and perhaps amoral behaviors, as she seeks to make do, to slip by, to sneak out, to endure, and to aspire.

Review Quotes

"Maguire enchants with his whimsical narrative voice and the detailed wonders of the world he's spent so many years playing in. This is a must-read for fans of both the original novel and the Broadway musical." -- Publishers Weekly

"Hot on the heels of the first part of the film adaptation of the musical Wicked, a new prequel about Elphaba's childhood is on its way. . . . Fans of Elphaba and of Maguire's work will be thrilled to once again venture into Oz and discover new characters, cities, and adventures besides. . . . Elphie is an emotional coming-of-age story that thrums with injustice, regret, and the complicated characters who made a young girl into the serious, stubborn witch destined to take on all of Oz." -- Booklist (starred review)

"Maguire's expansive novels permit Elphie to express 50 shades of green--just as his brilliant reimagining of Oz as a cohesive world, replete with diverse cultures, religions and histories, enables him to explore contemporary social and political issues alongside perennial questions of morality and spirituality. . . . Elphie concludes as Elphaba embarks on her own prickly path of self-discovery far from the yellow brick road, in the process revealing an Oz that is uniquely Maguire's." -- Wall Street Journal