Before She Was Wicked: A Book Review of Elphie: A Wicked Childhood by Gregory Maguire

Take a deeper look into the early life of Elphaba in Gregory Maguire’s Elphie: A Wicked Childhood. Find out why it earned a 3-star review.

If you’ve ever belted out “Defying Gravity” in your car or shower, you might think you know Elphaba’s story. But Gregory Maguire’s Oz has always been a much darker, twistier place than what we see on stage. In his latest, Elphie: A Wicked Childhood, digs into the years before Shiz University. As a fan of both the book series and the musical (just don’t confuse them), I was instantly in! Here’s what I thought of Maguire’s newest addition to the Wicked Years series and why Wicked still reigns supreme.

What is the book about?

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 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. Elphie 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. [Goodreads.com]

My thoughts

Gregory Maguire is back in Oz—again! This time, he’s taking us on a prequel journey with Elphie: A Wicked Childhood, a companion to his now thirty-year-old breakout hit Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West.

Now, before you assume you should read this because of your Wicked musical obsession, let me just say, the books and the musical are not the same thing. I feel like I need a neon sign every time I talk about this series. The musical is catchy, whimsical, and digestible for the masses (love it!); the books are a little more Oz by way of Charles Dickens (also love it!). These books are packed with far more political and social commentary than the musical. Elphaba in the book is not belting “Defying Gravity”—she’s navigating a gritty, layered world where “good” and “wicked” are more labels than truths.

That said, I do love both versions for what they are. I’ll sing along with the musical soundtrack but also open a Maguire novel when I want to sit in something dense and darkly magical. Which brings me back to Elphie. This book fills in the mysterious gap between baby Elphaba and college-age Elphaba at Shiz University. In Wicked, we basically blink, and she’s on campus. In Elphie we walk through her childhood and all the odd twists and turns that lead her to Shiz.

I gave the book 3.5 / 5 stars. Some parts of Elphie are deeply engaging, but I found myself drifting through large sections of the book. The pacing meanders, and while I typically enjoy Maguire’s style, this one didn’t grip me the way Wicked did.

Should you read it?

If you’re new to Maguire’s series, start with Wicked. It sets the tone for everything that has followed. Elphie works better as a bonus for readers who are already invested in this twisted version of Oz. If you’re even a little bit curious about Elphaba’s younger years, give it a shot.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the advanced reader’s copy; all opinions expressed in this review are my own.

(If you’re planning to read Elphie, I highly recommend the audiobook. In my opinion, no one narrates better than Edoardo Ballerini!)

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