Book description from Book Bub:
“This richly imagined novel tells the story behind The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the book that inspired the iconic film, through the eyes of author L. Frank Baum’s intrepid wife, Maud.
“A breathtaking read that will transport you over the rainbow and into the heart of one of America’s most enduring fairy tales.”—Lisa Wingate, author of Before We Were Yours
Hollywood, 1938: As soon as she learns that M-G-M is adapting her late husband’s masterpiece for the screen, seventy-seven-year-old Maud Gage Baum sets about trying to finagle her way onto the set. Nineteen years after Frank’s passing, Maud is the only person who can help the producers stay true to the spirit of the book—because she’s the only one left who knows its secrets.
But the moment she hears Judy Garland rehearsing the first notes of “Over the Rainbow,” Maud recognizes the yearning that defined her own life story, from her youth as a suffragette’s daughter to her coming of age as one of the first women in the Ivy League, from her blossoming romance with Frank to the hardscrabble prairie years that inspired The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Judy reminds Maud of a young girl she cared for and tried to help in South Dakota, a dreamer who never got her happy ending. Now, with the young actress under pressure from the studio as well as her ambitious stage mother, Maud resolves to protect her—the way she tried so hard to protect the real Dorothy.
The author of two New York Times bestselling nonfiction books, The Eighty-Dollar Champion and The Perfect Horse, Elizabeth Letts is a master at discovering and researching a rich historical story and transforming it into a page-turner. Finding Dorothy is the result of Letts’s journey into the amazing lives of Frank and Maud Baum. Written as fiction but based closely on the truth, Elizabeth Letts’s new book tells a story of love, loss, inspiration, and perseverance, set in America’s heartland.”
My Review:
First please take note of this: This is not a Christian fiction book.
Although I’ve been a “Wizard of Oz” fan for many years, I had never read very much about Maude Baum. Elizabeth Letts has done a great job of letting Maud tell her own story. Maud is an intelligent, independent, and practical woman who married an imaginative, intelligent, and creative man. As we read Maud’s story, we get insight into the characters and settings of “Oz”. All their experiences had a place in that book,. As interesting as that was, it’s the strong marriage that the Baums shared that shines all throughout this story, even after Frank’s death. Maude considers herself the protector of Dorothy’s story and decides to make herself an advisor on the film. She develops a friendship with Judy Garland during the filming of the movie and feels very much that she’s not only the protector of Frank’s story, but she is also there to protect young Judy/Dorothy from harm during the filming of the movie.
The story goes back and forth in the timeline of Maud’s life between her past and the time she’s on the “Oz” movie set. The author makes this a seamless transition, and it was easy to keep up during both time periods. It was interesting to learn some new details about the filming of the movie, and the author did a great job on her research.
Just a note: This book is not intended for younger readers. Although it’s a clean book with only an instance or two of bad language, there are adult themes in this book as Maud tells her story. This one is for the young adult age group and older.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.