Elphie: A Wicked Childhood Gregory Maguire 9781035416394

A spellbinding prequel to Wicked, the internationally bestselling novel that inspired the hit stage show phenomenon.

Young Elphaba is destined to be a witch, she bears the markings from childhood. But what happened before her powers took hold?

Elphie is a girl like any other and no other. Nothing like her parents - one beautiful, the other pious - nor her saintly sister, Nessarose. Her skin is green, her mind is cunning. One day she will command this strange and wonderful world. For now, her journey is just beginning.

The road ahead is full of lessons and heartbreak, the first bruising attempts at friendship - and tantalising whispers of magic.

It will lead Elphie to the doors of Shiz University, and to the girl who will change her life forever.

This is the captivating coming-of-age story of the most iconic witch in Oz.

Gregory Maguire is a bestselling author who has earned rave reviews and a dedicated following for Wicked, the first novel in the Wicked Years quartet (which also included Son of a Witch, A Lion Among Men and Out of Oz), that was made into an award-winning musical. He received his doctorate in English Literature from Tufts University, and has taught at Simmons College and other Boston area colleges. He has also served as an artist-in-residence at the Blue Mountain Center, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and the Hambridge Center. Gregory has lived in Dublin and London, but now makes his home near Boston, Massachusetts, with his partner, their two sons and daughter.