AFTER OZ is an inventive and remarkably entertaining retelling of the days Dorothy was missing from Kansas in The Wizard of Oz. The late Gordon McAlpine has crafted a genre-mixing masterpiece of fantasy and mystery.
A twister hits the town of Sunbonnet, Kansas, in the summer of 1896. The Gale family farm is demolished, and eleven-year-old Dorothy is nowhere to be found. The townspeople search for Dorothy until on the fourth day she is found in a pumpkin patch unharmed with her dog Toto. When asked where she was, Dorothy talks about yellow brick roads, the emerald city, witches, and a wizard. She also speaks of melting a witch with a bucket of water, and when the town’s meanest recluse, Alvina Clough, is found dead a few days later coated in corrosive lye, all suspicion lands on Dorothy. After a town hearing, she is sent to the Topeka Insane Asylum. A young psychologist, Evelyn Grace Wilford, is notified of Dorothy’s case by her cousin Frank Baum. Evelyn goes to interview Dorothy and believes the girl is innocent. Evelyn will travel to Sunbonnet, Kansas, to find the truth in this community of secrets and save Dorothy from years in the asylum.
AFTER OZ is told by two narrators with opposing viewpoints: a town resident and Evelyn Grace Wilford. One narrator believes in Dorothy’s guilt and will not consider facts that will threaten their view of Sunbonnet and its way of life. The other narrator, a young female psychologist who studied under William James (1890’s The Principles of Psychology), is more open-minded in her approach and not easily swayed by community perceptions. Told through letters and recollections, the story unfolds into a skillfully written mystery that twists and turns like the tornado winds. The mystery includes elements of willful ignorance, conscious manipulation, scientific progress vs. the status quo, and escaping unjust societies. AFTER OZ is a unique and compelling story that is surprising in its ability to so effectively use elements from The Wizard of Oz and craft them into a darn good mystery.
Gripping and emotionally riveting, this whimsical tale is an empowering and timely retelling of The Wizard of Oz where one little girl is forced to face head on the prejudices of the Midwest in the late 19th century.Kansas,1896. After a tornado destroys the Gale family farm, 11-year-old Dorothy goes missing. As the days pass by, the Gales are increasingly terrified the worst has happened. But when the girl turns up unharmed four days later, the townsfolk breathe in a sigh of relief. That is, until Dorothy herself relates her account of the events that took place after her disappearance. In vivid detail, Dorothy describes a fantastical land and its magical inhabitants, from the scarecrow, the tin man, and the cowardly lion to the wizard and the witch. Her recollections are not only regarded as delusional, but also as pagan and diabolical in nature, especially when the body of a local spinster is found. Making connections between the evil witch Dorothy claims to have defeated and the ill-tempered old crone, authorities find what they believe to be incriminating evidence, sentencing Dorothy to the Topeka Insane Asylum. When 28-year-old psychologist Dr. Evelyn Grace Wilford arrives at the asylum to interview Dorothy, she begins to wonder if Dorothy truly committed the crime or if something unfathomable has really occurred. In a small town full of insidious secrets, will Evelyn be able to save Dorothy from her terrible circumstances? Or is something menacing lurking just out of sight?
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