Son of a Witch: A Novel

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 in this epic fantasy novel 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's coming of age story 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? His quest for identity will determine if he has 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 rife with political intrigue and 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.

Ten years after the publication of Wicked, beloved novelist Gregory Maguire returns to the land of Oz to introduce us to Liir, an adolescent boy last seen hiding in the shadows of the castle after Dorothy did in the Witch. Bruised, comatose, and left for dead in a gully, Liir is shattered in spirit as well as in form. But he is tended to at the Cloister of Saint Glinda by the silent novice called Candle, who wills him back to life with her musical gifts. What dark force left Liir in this condition? Is he really Elphaba's son? He has her broom and her cape—but what of her powers? Can he find his supposed half-sister, Nor, last seen in the forbidding prison, Southstairs? Can he fulfill the last wishes of a dying princess? In an Oz that, since the Wizard's departure, is under new and dangerous management, can Liir keep his head down long enough to grow up? Discover the captivating tale that has taken fans of Wicked even deeper into the magical world of Oz.

“Maguire has done it again: Son of a Witch is as wicked as they come. . . . Thoroughly entertaining.” - Boston Globe

“Richly detailed. . . . Filled with wonderful things. . . . Once again, the myth of Oz proves its enduring power.” - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Masterfully imaginative. . . . Mesmerizing. . . . A headspinning cast of vividly described, eccentric characters emerges. . . . [An] enchanting fable.” - Publishers Weekly (starred 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

“A powerful cast of characters . . . Maguire has engaged in virtuoso fashion the very themes that turned what many considered a literary trifle into an American classic. . . . One of those rare books that, although not designed for children, absorbs us in ways that only childhood reading usually can, even as it refuses to let us take cover from the real world while we are reading it.” - Los Angeles Times

“A tale that adroitly mixes drama, humor, and political satire into a well-knit examination of good and evil.” - Library Journal