Elphie: A Wicked Childhood by Gregory Maguire
Audiobook
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.
Author Bio:
Gregory Maguire is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Wicked Years, a series that includes Wicked--the beloved classic that is the basis for the blockbuster Tony Award-winning Broadway musical of the same name and the major motion picture--Son of a Witch, A Lion Among Men, and Out of Oz. His series Another Day continues the story of Oz with The Brides of Maracoor, The Oracle of Maracoor, and The Witch of Maracoor, and his other novels include A Wild Winter Swan, Hiddensee, After Alice, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, Lost, and Mirror Mirror. Some of his novels for children include Cress Watercress, Leaping Beauty, and Egg & Spoon, winner of a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Honor. He lives in New England and France.
Categories:
- Fiction | Fantasy | Contemporary
- Fiction | Fairy Tales, Folk Tales, Legends & Mythology
- Fiction | Fantasy | Epic
Subjects:
-Thropp, Elphaba
-Witches
-Magic
-Wicked Witch of the West
-Oz (Imaginary place)
-Witch fiction
ISBN: 0063377012 EAN: 9780063377011
Publisher: William Morrow & Company
Binding: Hardcover
Pub Date: March 25, 2025
Physical Info: 1.0" H x 8.4" L x 5.8" W
288 pages
ISBN: 0063410559 EAN: 9780063410558
Publisher: William Morrow Large Print
Binding: Paperback, Large Print
Pub Date: March 25, 2025
Physical Info: 1.0" H x 8.9" L x 6.0" W
400 pages
ISBN: 0063445824 EAN: 9780063445826
Publisher: William Morrow & Company
Binding: Hardcover, Standard Edition
Pub Date: March 25, 2025
Physical Info: 1.0" H x 8.4" L x 5.8" W
288 pages
EAN: 9798874800307
Publisher: HarperCollins
Binding: Compact Disc
Copyright Date: 2025
Pub Date: March 25, 2025
