::Review:: Elphie by Gregory Maguire

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.

Gregory Maguire delights fans by returning to the Magical Land of Oz, and to a character that is as unforgettable as the songs in the movie that audiences have grown up loving.

It has been a good 20 years since I read the original book, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. I remember being enthralled by the story, and the character development. However, Elphie takes that into overdrive. This prequel is the exact story we needed. We get the blanks filled in that were missing from the original novel. Here, we learn more about Elphie’s birth, childhood and her relationships with her family. We get Turtle Heart. We get the things Elphie had to do for Nessarose. We get Nanny in all her glory and wonder.

Everything a reader may have wanted is here, and it’s in Maguire’s signature style. There are dozens of passages I found myself getting lost in due to the language selection. In the best way. I particularly loved that Elphie’s character was so well drawn out. In the first book, Elphie felt a little foreign to this reader. But in Elphie, I found her sympathetic and also very interesting. The ways she interacted with her family and her surroundings had a whole new meaning. It was almost like new eyes.

I found myself championing the little green girl throughout the novel. I also really loved the interaction between Elphie and Nanny and Elphie and Turtle Heart. It was wild to think that non family members had such an easy time understanding the girl, but her own mother was confused. Frex was also a character that seemed much more developed and dimensional as compared to what we saw of him in the original novel. He felt more like he had a path and clear direction for the things he did within Elphie and beyond.

I really loved this book, and it made me want to revisit the series, it’s been a while, but I’m going in and being delighted by all that I see in the other novels, based on my read of Elphie.
Please note, while this doesn’t come out until March 25, 2024, if you preorder the hardcover now, you can secure a deluze limited edition with stenciled edges and a color illustrated map of Oz. I went ahead and preordered to secure my copy and I’m going to share it with you once I get mine.

Special thanks to William Morrow for allowing me to read an e-arc of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts.