Gregory Maguire is an American author whose novels offer revisionist retellings of children's tales. His works delve into the darker and more ambiguous aspects of familiar stories, often focusing on characters relegated to the sidelines in their original tellings. Maguire's style is characterized by rich prose and a deep understanding of character psychology. His literary approach encourages readers to reconsider their perspectives on classic narratives and their moral complexities.
This historical novel reinterprets the classic tale of Cinderella, focusing on Iris, one of the "ugly sisters," who flees violence with her family to the Netherlands. In 17th-century Haarlem, they face hardship until a struggling painter helps them. Iris discovers her passion for painting while the tulip craze begins.
A captivating narrative that enchants readers, this novel weaves a tale of magic and emotion, exploring themes of love and transformation. Its rich characters and immersive storyline have not only garnered critical acclaim but also inspired a highly successful musical adaptation, showcasing its universal appeal and timeless relevance. The book invites readers to experience a world where enchantment and reality intertwine, leaving a lasting impression on all who delve into its pages.
The marvellous land of Oz is knotted with social unrest: The Emerald City is mounting an invasion of Munchkinland, Glinda is under house arrest, and the Cowardly Lion is on the run from the law. And look who's knocking at the door. It's none other than Dorothy. Yes, that Dorothy. Amid all this chaos, Elphaba's granddaughter, the tiny green baby born at the close of Son of a Witch, has come of age. Now, Rain will take up her broom in an Oz wracked by war. Out of Oz is a magical journey rife with revelations and reversals, reprisals and surprises - the hallmarks of the brilliant and unique imagination of Gregory Maguire.
The enchanting second novel in the series Another Day, returning to the world first created in Wicked.The Oracle of Maracoor, the second in the trilogy called Another Day, continues the story of Elphaba's green-skinned granddaughter, Rain. That strange land, Maracoor--across the ocean from Oz--is beset by an invading army. In the mayhem, Rain and Cossy, a child felon, break out of prison. Helped by a few flying monkeys, they struggle to escape the city before it falls under siege. Their arresting officer, Lucikles, also retreats with his family to a highland redoubt. But safety eludes them all. Chaos thunders upon them in the form of warriors, refugees, and brigands. The very fabric of reality loosens, liberating creatures of myth and legend--huge blue wolves, harpies, and giants made of the very landscape.Cued in by secrets known only to the most highly placed members of the royal court, Rain and her companions hunt the fabled Oracle of Maracoor for guidance and soothsaying. Rain has to recover her forgotten past if she is to consider returning home. Cossy, the ten-year-old convicted of murder, must become invisible to avoid being taken into custody again. Meanwhile, the Fist of Mara, an arcane artifact that renders all around it barren, hammers against human lives. If the reclusive Oracle should spin a prophecy, might the desperate wicked years promise another day, one less perilous?
“A beautiful reminder that fairy tales are at their best when they illuminate the precarious balance between lighthearted childhood and the darkness and danger of adulthood.” — School Library Journal (starred review) Elena Rudina lives in the impoverished Russian countryside, and there is no food. But then a train arrives in the village, a train carrying a cornucopia of food, untold wealth, and a noble family destined to visit the Tsar in Saint Petersburg—a family that includes Ekaterina, a girl of Elena’s age. When the two girls’ lives collide, an adventure is set in motion, an escapade that includes mistaken identity, a monk locked in a tower, a prince traveling incognito, and—in a starring role only Gregory Maguire could have conjured—Baba Yaga, witch of Russian folklore, in her ambulatory house perched on chicken legs.
Cress Watercress is a rabbit. Home means a warren on the riverbank with Mama and Papa and baby Kip. Meals at dawn and dusk, and honey-ginger tea to help the baby with his breathing. When Papa doesn't return from a nocturnal honey-gathering expedition, Mama assumes the worst - after all, it's a dangerous world for a rabbit. Though Cress begs to stay - what if Papa comes home and doesn't know where they've gone? - Mama moves the family to the basement apartment of the Broken Arms, a run-down apartment tree with a menacing owl landlord, a nosy mouse superintendent, a rowdy family of squirrels, and a pair of songbirds who broadcast everybody's business. Could a dead tree full of annoying neighbours - and no Papa - ever be home?
The first in a three-book series spun off the iconic Wicked Years from multimillion-copy best-selling author Gregory Maguire, featuring Elphaba’s granddaughter, the green-skinned Rain. Ten years ago this season, Gregory Maguire wrapped up the series he began with Wicked by giving us the fourth and final volume of the Wicked Years, his elegiac Out of Oz. But “out of Oz” isn’t “gone for good.” Maguire’s new series, Another Day, is here, 25 years after Wicked first flew into our lives. Volume one, The Brides of Maracoor, finds Elphaba’s granddaughter, Rain, washing ashore on a foreign island. Comatose from crashing into the sea, Rain is taken in by a community of single women committed to obscure devotional practices. As the mainland of Maracoor sustains an assault by a foreign navy, the island’s civil-servant overseer struggles to understand how an alien arriving on the shores of Maracoor could threaten the stability and well-being of an entire nation. Is it myth or magic at work, for good or for ill? The trilogy Another Day will follow this green-skinned girl from the island outpost into the unmapped badlands of Maracoor before she learns how, and becomes ready, to turn her broom homeward, back to her family and her lover, back to Oz, which — in its beauty, suffering, mystery, injustice, and possibility — reminds us all too clearly of the troubled yet sacred terrain of our own lives
[An] engrossing story...endearing and memorable. --Boston Herald [An] arresting hybrid of mystery, fairy tale, and historical novel. --Detroit Free Press A tale so movingly told that you will say at the end of the first reading, 'It's been a long time since I've read a book this good.' --Nashville Tennessean Gregory Maguire proves himself to be one of contemporary fiction's most assured myth-makers (Kirkus Reviews) with Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, his ingenious and provocative retelling of the timeless Cinderella fairy tale. Perhaps best known for his dark and breathtaking Oz series The Wicked Years--including the novel Wicked, which inspired the Tony Award- winning Broadway musical--Maguire is a master at upending the ordinary to help us see the familiar in a brilliant new light. schovat popis
An astonishingly rich re-creation of the land of Oz, this book retells the story of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, who wasn't so wicked after all. Taking readers past the yellow brick road and into a phantasmagoric world rich with imagination and allegory, Gregory Maguire just might change the reputation of one of the most sinister characters in literature.
The story follows Alice, a skinny orphan with hearing and speech challenges, who faces profound loneliness after losing the only person who cared for her—a nun at the orphanage—due to a tragic accident. As she navigates her struggles and the harsh realities of her life, the narrative explores themes of resilience, loss, and the search for connection in a world that often feels isolating.