Hazel Gaynor works magic with her latest book, BEFORE DOROTHY, which answers a question that even L. Frank Baum did not address in THE WIZARD OF OZ: Why did young Dorothy go to live with her Aunt Emily and Uncle Henry in Kansas?

In masterful style, Gaynor fleshes out characters who are mostly neglected in Baum’s classic novel. While writers like Gregory Maguire have created backstories for the denizens of Oz, Gaynor focuses on the very real human beings who were tasked with raising their orphaned niece. Moving Dorothy at such an early age after the tragic drowning deaths of her parents was a huge change. Physically taking her from Chicago to the barren farmland of Liberal, Kansas, may have felt like stepping into a new world in much the same way that her dream at age 13 allowed her to spend time in the merry old land of Oz.

"BEFORE DOROTHY personifies Emily and then Henry in a way that makes them feel far more fleshed out than the secondary characters they were in THE WIZARD OF OZ. The result is a prequel to a classic work that is worthy of the source material."

The gaps that Gaynor fills are extensive and a pleasure to behold. We meet Emily Gale in 1932 when she is visiting the Chicago row house that had been inhabited by her sister, Annie. She is greeted there by the housekeeper and fellow Irish lass Cora, who takes her to see Dorothy. Emily's oldest sister lives in California, but Annie had indicated in her will that she wanted Dorothy to be with Emily should anything happen to her. So now we know why Dorothy moved to Kansas.

Prior to this move, we are taken back to when Emily met Henry, a direct relation to John Gale, who had married Annie. She is instantly smitten and buys into his dream of relocating to Kansas with the opportunity to acquire their own farm. This is exactly what happens, even though they have to deal with subsisting off a land that can be more of a dust bowl than a thriving place of farm cultivation. They stick it out and are able to get through demanding times. However, when they gain custody of Dorothy, they are not prepared for how it will change their lives.

When Emily first takes Dorothy as her new charge, she finds that they have a similar love for the circus as Dorothy marvels at a flyer for a traveling circus to which Emily indicates is a regular occurrence in Kansas. This is just the first of many Easter eggs that reflect classic images from THE WIZARD OF OZ, and I found myself smiling as I recalled the character of Professor Marvel, who doubled as the Wizard in Dorothy’s fantasy trip to Oz. There are many more such examples throughout the novel, like Dorothy’s homemade dolls that represent her friends the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion. When Aunt Emily and Uncle Henry agree to get a dog for their niece, it is pure joy to witness the first meeting between Dorothy and Toto.

There are characters who help present plot twists in addition to becoming physical symbols of Glinda, Elphaba and the Wizard himself. When the twister that has haunted Dorothy’s dreams for years becomes a reality, it is a wonder to behold it without experiencing the imaginary visit to Oz that she has after being knocked unconscious during the storm.

BEFORE DOROTHY personifies Emily and then Henry in a way that makes them feel far more fleshed out than the secondary characters they were in THE WIZARD OF OZ. The result is a prequel to a classic work that is worthy of the source material. I enjoyed this trip and was reminded that Dorothy’s ruby slippers were actually silver slippers given to her by her mother. MGM changed the color because ruby looked better on the Yellow Brick Road. That is just one of a myriad of nuggets to unpack from this superior novel.