After Oz

By: Gordon McAlpine

Narrated by: Maria Ru-Djen

This gripping and emotionally riveting tale is a dark 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 nineteenth century.

Kansas, 1896. After a tornado destroys the Gale family farm, eleven-year-old Dorothy goes missing. As the days pass, the Gales are increasingly terrified the worst has happened. But when the girl turns up unharmed four days later, the townsfolk breathe a sigh of relief. That is, until Dorothy herself relates her account of the events that took place during her disappearance.

In vivid detail, Dorothy describes a fantastical land and its magical inhabitants: a scarecrow, a tin man, a cowardly lion, a wizard, a 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 matching Dorothy's description of a witch she claims to have killed. Authorities find incriminating evidence tying Dorothy to the real murder, and they sentence Dorothy to the Topeka Insane Asylum.

When twenty-eight-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, Evelyn sets out to save Dorothy from her terrible circumstances, but can't help but fear whether something menacing may be lurking just out of sight.

©2024 Gordon McAlpine (P)2024 Dreamscape Media

A Twist on a Classic

What Wicked does for the infamous green skinned minor antagonist in Baum’s original, this does for Dorothy Gale.

Upon Dorothy’s unexpected survival four days after the faithful storm, her tale is largely considered a delusion, until the body of the town’s spinster is discovered, melted by lye and with the 11 year old the presumptive killer.

Told alternately by an unnamed townsperson and Dr. Evelyn Wilford, who doesn’t believe Dorothy is the true killer, Alpine’s story unfolds and juxtaposes the logic and psychology and rational thinking against the dangers of small town religiosity and irrationality. While it plays out in the tradition of Doyle and Christie, it retains its own voice and echos sentiments that are still playing out today.

Highly recommend this if you’re a fan of Oz, mysteries, and/or revisionist looks at classic literature.

Wasted opportunity

Obvious and tedious, plodding. If you want to read a superb book that takes a different take on Dorothy Gale and the Oz material I strongly suggest you track down Was, by Geoff Ryman, published in 1992.