Wicked: Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (Wicked Years Book 1)

Gregory Maguire's Wicked reimagines L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by exploring the life of Elphaba, the girl who becomes the Wicked Witch of the West. Born with emerald-green skin in a land plagued by natural disasters, Elphaba grows up in a world where superstition and magic cannot protect against flood and famine. She is intelligent and ambitious, eventually attending Shiz University where she joins a circle of Oz's most promising young people. Elphaba's world is far from utopian. The Wizard maintains secret police throughout the land, and Animals—intelligent creatures with voices, souls, and minds—face exile. Driven by a commitment to Animal rights, Elphaba opposes the mysterious Wizard, even at the cost of personal happiness. Through guilt and sorrow, she comes to accept her identity as a witch and eventually finds gratitude for the arrival of a young girl from Kansas. The novel draws on traditions of magical realism, mythopoeic fantasy, and nineteenth-century moral sagas while offering a unique fairy tale retelling. It explores how a smart, misunderstood girl transforms into the figure known as the Wicked Witch of the West.