Before Dorothy by Hazel Gaynor is a novel from Auntie Em's point of view, before Dorothy's whole Wizard of Oz story. 1932; Emily Gale is Dorothy's aunt, the sister of her mother Annie, who recently died in an accident together with her husband John. Emily has traveled from Kansas to Chicago to take Dorothy home with her to her farm home on the prairie of Kansas, where she lives with her husband Henry, as they now have become Dorothy's legal guardians. Back in the past, Emily moved to Kansas with Henry in 1924, when she left Annie in Chicago. They where once closed but the past years they wher not anymore, all because of a secret about Dorothy only they know.
Life on the Kansas prairie started good for Emily and Henry, soon they learn how to maintain the farm and they also get a place in the local community. But droughts and dust storms and tornado's make life difficult on the prairie, especially when they lose their home in a tornado just shortly before Dorothy starts to live with them. Dorothy has also a difficult time adjusting to her new life. She is a child with a vivid imagination and dreams full of fantasy worlds. When a female pilot lands on their land, their life take another turn as this pilot is working with a man who promised to have the magic trick to make the drought on the prairie go away and make it rain again. This man is someone Emily knew in the past, and she knows his secret that is connected to Dorothy, and Emily fears she will lose her forever..
Before Dorothy is an excellent new book by Hazel Gaynor. I have read several previous books by her and everytime they amaze me. Even if you are not very familiar with Dorothy's story in The Wizard of Oz, this book can be read as a standalone novel, there are small references to it though in the book, like the little toy tin man that Emily's father made for her back in Ireland or the silver dancing shoes of Annie that Dorothy inherits. Just as in her previous books, Hazel Gaynor potrays the background of the Kansas prairie so well that you can almost feel it, this was very well done, even as the historical timeframe it was set in that also felt very real, just like the realistic characters. I also loved how the story changes in chapter from 1924 to 1932. Everything in this book was worked out just fantastic and everything felt in the right place in this magnificent story. I truly recommend this new novel by Hazel Gaynor!
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