Son of a Witch: The Sequel to Wicked (Wicked Years Book 2) by Gregory Maguire

The New York Times bestselling sequel to Wicked, the multimillion-copy bestseller and basis for the #1 smash hit movie starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande.

When a Witch dies—not as a crone, withered and incapable, but as a woman in her prime, at the height of her passion and prowess—too much is left unsaid. What might have happened had Elphaba lived? Of her campaigns in defense of the Animals, of her appetite for justice, of her talent for magic itself, what good might have come? If every death is a tragedy, the death of a woman in her prime keenly bereaves the whole world.

Gregory Maguire returns to the world of Wicked and the land of Oz to follow the story of Liir, the adolescent boy left hiding in the shadows of the castle when Dorothy did in the Witch.

A decade after the Witch has melted away, the young man Liir is discovered bruised, comatose, and left for dead in a gully. Shattered in spirit as well as in form, he is tended by the mysterious Candle, a foundling in her own right, until failed campaigns of his childhood bear late, unexpected fruit.

Liir is only one part of the world that Elphaba left behind. As a boy hardly in his teens, he is asked to help the needy in ways in which he may be unskilled. Is he Elphaba’s son? Has he power of his own? Can he liberate Princess Nastoya into a dignified death? Can he locate his supposed half-sister, Nor, last seen in shackles in the Wizard’s protection? Can he survive in an Oz little improved since the death of the Wicked Witch of the West? Can he learn to fly?

In Son of a Witch, Gregory Maguire suggests that the magic we locate in distant, improbable places like Oz is no greater than the magic inherent in any hard life lived fully, son of a witch or no.

Review

“As fantastical as a novel set in Oz should be.” — Entertainment Weekly

“Maguire’s captivating, fully imagined world of horror and wonder illuminates the links between good and evil, retribution and forgiveness.” — People

“Maguire is full of storytelling brio . . . his Oz is meticulously drawn.” — New York Times

Cover1 Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Headline Review; 1st edition (3 April 2008)

Language ‏ : ‎ English

Paperback ‏ : ‎ 512 pages

ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0755341562

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0755341566

Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 16.4 x 3.4 x 19.7 cm

Cover2 Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ William Morrow Paperbacks (August 13, 2024)

Language ‏ : ‎ English

Paperback ‏ : ‎ 368 pages

ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0063398362

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0063398368

Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.9 ounces

Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.31 x 0.92 x 8 inches