Son Of A Witch: Volume Two In The Wicked Years

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The New York Timesbestselling sequel to Wicked, the multimillion-copybestseller and basis for the Tony Awardwinning hit musical, soon to be a major motion picture starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande.

When a Witch diesnot as a crone, withered and incapable, but as a woman in her prime, at the height of her passion and prowesstoo much is left unsaid. What might have happened had Elphaba lived Of her campaigns in defense of the Animals, of her appetite for justice, of her talent for magic itself, what good might have come If every death is a tragedy, the death of a woman in her prime keenly bereaves the whole world.

Gregory Maguire returns to the world of Wicked and the land of Oz to follow the story of Liir, the adolescent boy left hiding in the shadows of the castle when Dorothy did in the Witch.

A decade after the Witch has melted away, the young man Liir is discovered bruised, comatose, and left for dead in a gully. Shattered in spirit as well as in form, he is tended by the mysterious Candle, a foundling in her own right, until failed campaigns of his childhood bear late, unexpected fruit.

Liir is only one part of the world that Elphaba left behind. As a boy hardly in his teens, he is asked to help the needy in ways in which he may be unskilled. Is he Elphabas son Has he power of his own Can he liberate Princess Nastoya into a dignified death Can he locate his supposed half-sister, Nor, last seen in shackles in the Wizards protection Can he survive in an Oz little improved since the death of the Wicked Witch of the West Can he learn to fly

In Son of a Witch, Gregory Maguire suggests that the magic we locate in distant, improbable places like Oz is no greater than the magic inherent in any hard life lived fully, son of a witch or no.

Reviews

"As fantastical as a novel set in Oz should be." -- Entertainment Weekly

"Maguire's captivating, fully imagined world of horror and wonder illuminates the links between good and evil, retribution and forgiveness." -- People

"Maguire is full of storytelling brio . . . his Oz is meticulously drawn." -- New York Times

"A powerful cast of characters . . . Maguire has engaged in virtuoso fashion the very themes that turned what many considered a literary trifle into an American classic. . . . One of those rare books that, although not designed for children, absorbs us in ways that only childhood reading usually can, even as it refuses to let us take cover from the real world while we are reading it." -- Los Angeles Times

"Masterfully imaginative. . . . Mesmerizing. . . . A headspinning cast of vividly described, eccentric characters emerges. . . . [An] enchanting fable." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Richly detailed. . . . Filled with wonderful things. . . . Once again, the myth of Oz proves its enduring power." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"A tale that adroitly mixes drama, humor, and political satire into a well-knit examination of good and evil." -- Library Journal

"Maguire has done it again: Son of a Witch is as wicked as they come. . . . Thoroughly entertaining." -- Boston Globe

Author Bio

Gregory Maguire is theNew York Timesbestselling author ofConfessions of an Ugly Stepsister; Lost; Mirror Mirror;and the Wicked Years, a series that includesWicked, Son of a Witch, A Lion Among Men,andOut of Oz. Now a beloved classic,Wickedis the basis for a blockbuster Tony Awardwinning Broadway musical. Maguire has lectured on art, literature, and culture both at home and abroad. He lives with his family near Boston, Massachusetts.