Elphie (Deluxe Limited Edition)

A Wicked Childhood

Gregory Maguire

$62.95

Hardback

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English

Miscellaneous
25 March 2025

Fantasy; Myth & legend told as fiction; Fantasy

Order now to receive the stunning DELUXE LIMITED EDITION-- only available on the first printing while supplies last! The collector's hardcover features stenciled edges and a color illustrated map of Oz.

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.

By: Gregory Maguire
Imprint: Miscellaneous
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 213mm, Width: 147mm, Spine: 25mm
Weight: 431g
ISBN: 9780063377011
ISBN 10: 0063377012
Pages: 288
Publication Date: 25 March 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Gregory Maguire is the 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.

Reviews for Elphie (Deluxe Limited Edition): A Wicked Childhood

""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