{"title":"Gregory Maguire","description":"","products":[{"product_id":"confessions-of-an-ugly-stepsister-paperback","title":"Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister - Paperback","description":"","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50101117452511,"sku":"9780063489653","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/kULNbGfxOT9780063489653.webp?v=1781068290"},{"product_id":"elphie-a-wicked-childhood-paperback","title":"Elphie: A Wicked Childhood - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003eBestseller\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWhat happened to young Elphaba before her witchy powers took hold in \u003ci\u003eWicked\u003c\/i\u003e? Almost 30 years after the publication of the original novel, 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 \u003ci\u003eWicked\u003c\/i\u003e: \u003ci\u003eThe Musical \u003c\/i\u003eand the \u003ci\u003eWicked \u003c\/i\u003esmash hit movie series.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eElphaba, 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; \u003ci\u003eElphie\u003c\/i\u003e is the riveting coming-of-age story of a very peculiar and relatable young girl.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eYoung 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. She 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eElphie 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.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50101169389791,"sku":"9780063377028","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/L28G-epuWv9780063377028.webp?v=1781068394"},{"product_id":"after-alice-paperback","title":"After Alice - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrom the multi-million-copy bestselling author of \u003cem\u003eWicked\u003c\/em\u003e comes a magical new twist on \u003cem\u003eAlice's Adventures in Wonderland\u003c\/em\u003e, published to coincide with the 150th anniversary of Lewis's Carroll's beloved classic.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen Alice toppled down the rabbit-hole 150 years ago, she found a Wonderland as rife with inconsistent rules and abrasive egos as the world she left behind. But what of that world? How did 1860s Oxford react to Alice's disappearance?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn this brilliant work of fiction, Gregory Maguire turns his dazzling imagination to the question of underworlds, undergrounds, underpinnings--and understandings old and new, offering an inventive spin on Carroll's enduring tale. Ada, a friend of Alice's mentioned briefly in \u003cem\u003eAlice's Adventures in Wonderland\u003c\/em\u003e, is off to visit her friend, but arrives a moment too late--and tumbles down the rabbit-hole herself.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAda brings to Wonderland her own imperfect apprehension of cause and effect as she embarks on an odyssey to find Alice and see her safely home from this surreal world below the world. If Eurydice can ever be returned to the arms of Orpheus, or Lazarus can be raised from the tomb, perhaps Alice can be returned to life. Either way, everything that happens next is \"After Alice.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eFront Jacket\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe multimillion-copy bestselling author of \u003cem\u003eWicked\u003c\/em\u003e offers a magical new twist on Lewis Carroll's classic children's book \u003cem\u003eAlice's Adventures in Wonderland\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen Alice toppled down the rabbit-hole 150 years ago, she found a Wonderland as rife with inconsistent rules and abrasive egos as the world she left behind. But what of that world? How did 1860s Oxford react to Alice's disappearance?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn this brilliant new work of fiction, Gregory Maguire turns his dazzling imagination to the question of underworlds, undergrounds, underpinnings--and understandings old and new, offering an inventive spin on Carroll's enduring tale. Ada, a friend of Alice's mentioned briefly in \u003cem\u003eAlice's Adventures in Wonderland, \u003c\/em\u003e is off to visit her friend but arrives a moment too late--and tumbles down the rabbit-hole herself.\u003c\/p\u003eAda brings to Wonderland her own imperfect apprehension of cause and effect as she embarks on an odyssey to find Alice and see her safely home from this surreal world below the world. The White Rabbit, the Cheshire Cat, the bloodthirsty Queen of Hearts--droll and imperious as always--interrupt their mad tea party to suggest a conundrum: If Eurydice can ever be returned to the arms of Orpheus, or if Lazarus can be raised from the tomb, perhaps Alice can be returned to life. In any case, everything that happens next is \u003cem\u003eAfter Alice\u003c\/em\u003e.--\u003cem\u003eNew York Journal of Books\u003c\/em\u003e\u003ch3\u003eBack Jacket\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe multimillion-copy bestselling author of \u003cem\u003eWicked\u003c\/em\u003e offers a magical new twist on Lewis Carroll's classic children's book \u003cem\u003eAlice's Adventures in Wonderland\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen Alice toppled down the rabbit-hole 150 years ago, she found a Wonderland as rife with inconsistent rules and abrasive egos as the world she left behind. But what of that world? How did 1860s Oxford react to Alice's disappearance?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn this brilliant new work of fiction, Gregory Maguire turns his dazzling imagination to the question of underworlds, undergrounds, underpinnings--and understandings old and new, offering an inventive spin on Carroll's enduring tale. Ada, a friend of Alice's mentioned briefly in \u003cem\u003eAlice's Adventures in Wonderland, \u003c\/em\u003e is off to visit her friend but arrives a moment too late--and tumbles down the rabbit-hole herself.\u003c\/p\u003eAda brings to Wonderland her own imperfect apprehension of cause and effect as she embarks on an odyssey to find Alice and see her safely home from this surreal world below the world. The White Rabbit, the Cheshire Cat, the bloodthirsty Queen of Hearts--droll and imperious as always--interrupt their mad tea party to suggest a conundrum: If Eurydice can ever be returned to the arms of Orpheus, or if Lazarus can be raised from the tomb, perhaps Alice can be returned to life. In any case, everything that happens next is \u003cem\u003eAfter Alice\u003c\/em\u003e.","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50101530198239,"sku":"9780060859749","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/GEecK7wSC19780060859749.webp?v=1781071668"},{"product_id":"wicked-the-life-and-times-of-the-wicked-witch-of-the-west-paperback","title":"Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA special 25th anniversary hardcover edition of the multi-million-copy-bestselling novel and basis of the Tony Award-winning musical.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis is the book that started it all  The basis for the smash hit Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, Gregory Maguire's breathtaking \u003cem\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/em\u003ebestseller \u003cem\u003eWicked \u003c\/em\u003eviews the land of Oz, its inhabitants, its Wizard, and the Emerald City, through a darker and greener (not rosier) lens. Brilliantly inventive, \u003cem\u003eWicked\u003c\/em\u003e offers us a radical new evaluation of one of the most feared and hated characters in all of literature: the much maligned Wicked Witch of the West who, as Maguire tells us, wasn't nearly as \u003cem\u003eWicked \u003c\/em\u003eas we imagined.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eBack Jacket\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen Dorothy triumphed over the Wicked Witch of the West in L. Frank Baum's classic tale, we heard only her side of the story. But what about her arch-nemesis, the mysterious witch? Where did she come from? How did she become so wicked? And what is the true nature of evil? \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Gregory Maguire creates a fantasy world so rich and vivid that we will never look at Oz the same way again. \u003cem\u003eWicked\u003c\/em\u003e is about a land where animals talk and strive to be treated like first-class citizens, Munchkinlanders seek the comfort of middle-class stability and the Tin Man becomes a victim of domestic violence. And then there is the little green-skinned girl named Elphaba, who will grow up to be the infamous Wicked Witch of the West, a smart, prickly and misunderstood creature who challenges all our preconceived notions about the nature of good and evil. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50101531902175,"sku":"9780060987107","price":22.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/ZWFSSUVrNkZmeDloZ3dZd0JxV2RlZz09.webp?v=1781071671"},{"product_id":"the-brides-of-maracoor-paperback","title":"The Brides of Maracoor - Paperback","description":"","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50101593374943,"sku":"9780063093973","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/Zk1UY29ZbmRxWFA5S01yS2t5UXlnUT09.webp?v=1781071789"},{"product_id":"a-lion-among-men-volume-three-in-the-wicked-years-paperback","title":"A Lion Among Men: Volume Three in the Wicked Years - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/em\u003eBestseller\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFocusing on the Cowardly Lion, the third in the Wicked Years series which started with \u003cem\u003eWicked\u003c\/em\u003e, the multimillion-copy\u003cem\u003e \u003c\/em\u003ebestseller and basis for the Tony Award-winning hit musical, soon to be a major motion picture starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn \u003cem\u003eA Lion Among Men \u003c\/em\u003eGregory Maguire continues to flesh out the world of Oz, seen this time through the eyes of the Cowardly Lion--remembered from \u003cem\u003eWicked\u003c\/em\u003e as a tiny cub defended by Elphaba.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhile civil war looms in Oz, an ancient and tetchy oracle named Yackle prepares for death. Before she can return to dust, however, the Cowardly Lion--an enigmatic figure named Brrr--arrives in search of information about Elphaba Thropp, the Wicked Witch of the West. As payment, Yackle who hovered on the sidelines of Elphaba's life, demands some answers of her own.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAbandoned as a cub, Brrr's earliest memories are only gluey hazes. But his path from infancy in the Great Gillikin Forest is no Yellow Brick Road. Seeking to redress an early mistake, he tumbles through a swamp of ghosts, becomes implicated in a massacre of trolls, and falls in love with a Cat princess. Sidestepping the laws that oppress talking Animals, Brrr cannily avoids a jail sentence by agreeing to serve as a lackey to the warmongering Emperor of Oz.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eA Lion Among Men \u003c\/em\u003etraces a battle of wits between adversaries distracted by the armies approaching on either side of them. What does the Lion know of the whereabouts of the Witch's boy, Liir? What can Yackle reveal about the auguries of the Clock of the Time Dragon? Is destiny ever arbitrary? Can those tarnished by infamy escape their sobriquets--cowardly, wicked, brainless, criminally earnest--to claim their own histories, to live honorably within their own skins before they're skinned alive?\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50101604843743,"sku":"9780063398382","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/BIW8o572Of9780063398382.webp?v=1781071809"},{"product_id":"son-of-a-witch-volume-two-in-the-wicked-years-paperback","title":"Son of a Witch: Volume Two in the Wicked Years - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe \u003cem\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/em\u003ebestselling sequel to \u003cem\u003eWicked\u003c\/em\u003e, the multimillion-copy\u003cem\u003e \u003c\/em\u003ebestseller and basis for the Tony Award-winning hit musical, soon to be a major motion picture starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGregory Maguire returns to the world of \u003cem\u003eWicked\u003c\/em\u003e 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLiir 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?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn \u003cem\u003eSon of a Witch\u003c\/em\u003e, 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.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50101605433567,"sku":"9780063398368","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/H9a4LaMs9H9780063398368.webp?v=1781071810"},{"product_id":"wicked-volume-one-in-the-wicked-years-paperback","title":"Wicked: Volume One in the Wicked Years - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe \u003cem\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/em\u003ebestseller and basis for the Tony Award-winning hit musical, soon to be a major motion picture starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWith millions of copies in print around the world, Gregory Maguire's \u003cem\u003eWicked\u003c\/em\u003e is established not only as a commentary on our time but as a novel to revisit for years to come. \u003cem\u003eWicked\u003c\/em\u003e relishes the inspired inventions of L. Frank Baum's 1900 novel, \u003cem\u003eThe Wonderful Wizard of Oz\u003c\/em\u003e, while playing sleight of hand with our collective memories of the 1939 MGM film starring Margaret Hamilton (and Judy Garland). In this fast-paced, fantastically real, and supremely entertaining novel, Maguire has populated the largely unknown world of Oz with the power of his own imagination. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eYears before Dorothy and her dog crash-land, another little girl makes her presence known in Oz. This girl, Elphaba, is born with emerald-green skin--no easy burden in a land as mean and poor as Oz, where superstition and magic are not strong enough to explain or overcome the natural disasters of flood and famine. Still, Elphaba is smart, and by the time she enters Shiz University, she becomes a member of a charmed circle of Oz's most promising young citizens.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBut Elphaba's Oz is no utopia. The Wizard's secret police are everywhere. Animals--those creatures with voices, souls, and minds--are threatened with exile. Young Elphaba, green and wild and misunderstood, is determined to protect the Animals--even if it means combating the mysterious Wizard, even if it means risking her single chance at romance. Ever wiser in guilt and sorrow, she can find herself grateful when the world declares her a witch. And she can even make herself glad for that young girl from Kansas. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRecognized as an iconoclastic tour de force on its initial publication, the novel has inspired the blockbuster musical of the same name--one of the longest-running plays in Broadway history. Popular, indeed. But while the novel's distant cousins hail from the traditions of magical realism, mythopoeic fantasy, and sprawling nineteenth-century sagas of moral urgency, Maguire's \u003cem\u003eWicked\u003c\/em\u003e is as unique as its green-skinned witch. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50101606514911,"sku":"9780063398344","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/MIhjp5b7Jr9780063398344.webp?v=1781071812"},{"product_id":"mirror-mirror-paperback","title":"Mirror Mirror - Paperback","description":"","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50102232711391,"sku":"9780063489660","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/fHlZF7SfVw9780063489660.webp?v=1781079189"}],"url":"https:\/\/blackandbarhe.com\/collections\/gregory-maguire.oembed","provider":"Black \u0026 Barhe Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}