Of course I loved the movie The Wizard of Oz, but the book and its sequels were in a whole different universe. I can still feel the thick pages, picture that special font, imagine the unique black and white illustrations that made this world come to life. Reading Finding Dorothy brought the world of MGM and my imagination together in a truly unique way. I loved the format of the story, the chapters switching between Maud’s early years and her widowhood. There was no chance to get too bogged down in the dreariness of prairie living because in a few pages the reader is catapulted to the back lot of MGM and is meeting the big names of Hollywood in the 30’s. Reading about the life and ambitions of author Frank Baum made me curious to learn even more about him and what drove him. Finding Dorothy gave just enough detail to make you hungry to do further research. It was really fun to stumble upon the little nuggets the author revealed which explained the names, places and stories that made The Wonderful Wizard of Oz a classic. Although I already knew a great deal about Judy Garland, her story was sensitively presented and it was clear why her contribution to the movie in her role as Dorothy was so important to Maud, as she strove to protect her husband’s vision. All in all an enjoyable book for both readers and movie lovers.

Maud Gage Baum, wife of THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ author, L. Frank Baum, acts as a consultant during the making of the film in 1938 and befriends 16-year-old Judy Garland. Based on historical facts, the novels moves back and forth between Maud’s unconventional childhood (her mother, Matilda Joslyn Gage, friend of Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, was an outspoken advocate for women’s rights), her life with L. Frank Baum and her experience working on THE WIZARD OF OZ nineteen years after his death.

I'd like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of Finding Dorothy in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book. Maud Baum was an absolutely fascinating woman and this book shows it off wonderfully.

I adored the strong relationship between her and Frank. It wasn't always perfect but it was wonderfully passionate.

Maud's determination to protect the legacy of Oz was moving and her interactions with Judy were beautiful and tragic.

I love all things related to the Wizard of Oz. I read all the books when I was a adolescent and have seen the movie a hundred times. That said, I really enjoyed reading this novel about Maud Gage Baum, the wife of L. Frank Baum, the man who wrote most of the Oz novels. This novel was well written, well researched, and well worth the time of reading. Although the author did take some poetic license with historical facts, the novel was enjoyable and did give some insight into the making of the film and the lives of Frank and Maud.

This was a well written book about the beloved movie “The Wizard of Oz.” Not only does it capture many moments about the film but it also depicts the life and times of Frank Baum, the author of the Oz books, and his wife Maud. The author delves into many of the family’s personalities. She incorporated a lot of history into this novel and a lot of factual information. There were some historical figures in history and the connections they had with the family. It was a pleasure to learn so much about one of my favorite films!

Maud Baum, wife of L. Frank Baum, happens to hear the first iteration of Somewhere Over the Rainbow, sung by an unknown actress. She doesn't think the girl is right for Dorothy. Told on multiple timelines, this novel provides a fictionalized peek into Maud Baum's fascinating life.

Writing: 4/5 Plot: 4/5 Characters: 4/5

The fictionalized history of the creation of The Wizard of Oz through the eyes of Maud Baum, daughter of early suffragette Mathilda Gage and wife of L. Frank Baum, Oz’s creator. Alternating between her personal history from 1871 (10 years old) through 1899 (38 years old) and the 1938-39 Hollywood film production, the pages unravel the secret origins of Oz and the personal world Baum embedded in the story. As the narrative unspools, the characters are brought to life: Frank is the consummate storyteller and imagineer, firmly embedded in thoughts of the future while weaving fantastical stories from everything around him. Maud is his balance — “To see the ordinary, to avoid being bedazzled by spectacle — this was her gift.” She remained a shopkeeper’s daughter, “firmly anchored in the palpable things of this earth — things that could be observed and touched, measured and weighed.”

The scenes are abundantly filled with period details such as peptonizing milk for a baby’s consumption, prescriptions of “Bayer heroin” for coughs, patent medicines, and early air conditioning technology brought to Hollywood — “a heater for the cool.” We follow Frank and Maud as they move from upstate New York to the Dakota territory, working in a variety of occupations from theater management (and acting, scriptwriting, scenic design, etc.), to the owners of Baum’s emporium, to the owner of The Aberdeen Saturday Pioneer newspaper, to superlative Salesman. Frank was an early marketeer — blending story and spectacle with product to entrance consumers into buying something they never knew they wanted.

The 1938-39 narrative focuses on an older, widowed, Maud, fighting M-G-M to ensure the movie would stay true to Frank’s version. Maud wants to protect the story and what it represents to the millions who have been brought into the Magic of Oz — the longing for something better and the “dream of the rainbow” that keeps people going when times are hard (as they were for most people back then).

I’m not a fan of fictionalized history in general — it feels unfair to me to impart imagined thoughts, motivations, and dialog to real (but dead) people who can no longer set the record straight. However, I get easily caught up in a good story, and Elizabeth Letts has done an excellent job of generating one, starting from a variety of primary and secondary sources and filling in with period detail, imagined internal lives, and a well-defined narrative arc.

Utterly charming tale of L. Frank Baum's widow. The intimate background details just add even more to the beloved world of Oz.
I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the feisty Maud and how she fought to honor her husband's legacy and their shared past with the story of The Wizard of Oz. The book made me want to read the original for the first time and watch the movie again. Thanks for letting me read it.

This novel tells the story of Maud Gage Baum, wife of L. Frank Baum, author of The Wizard of Oz. It alternates between their hardscrabble life in the latter part of the nineteenth century, and 1939, when Maud, then in her late seventies, comes to the set of the Wizard of Oz film and befriends its star, Judy Garland. I usually don’t like to read books with authors imagining events about real historical figures, but this one was exceptional, not only in the amount of research involved, but also in the fascinating depiction of the times, places, and characters. Highly recommended for both fans of historical fiction and Wizard of Oz aficionados.

I love Elizabeth Letts for her love of history and her offbeat choices: with "The Perfect Horse," she takes us into the point of view of a relatively obscure soldier, equestrian, and dressage champion, Alois Podhajsky, and with exhaustively researched historical details, she brings to life extraordinary people who did great things--unsung heroes, most of them (although names like General Patton are familiar for other reasons)--as they launched Operation Rescue to save the fabulous horses of World War II .

"The Wizard of Oz" is one of the most famous, iconic, and beloved movies in all of cinematic history. It was one of the first movies in color, in 1939, and it competed with "Gone with the Wind" that year at the Oscars, or it might have won first place in every category. The story is so familiar to so many of us, our culture is filled with references to ruby slippers, "We're not in Kansas anymore," cries of "Toto!" when a strong wind blows, the courage of the "cowardly" lion, The Tin Man (rock group America sings that Oz never did give nothin' to the Tin Man that he didn't already have), "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain," Lions and Tigers and Bears (Oh my!), "I do believe in spooks," poppies ("Now they'll sleep!), and pretty much every line in the movie is well known and oft-quoted.

Less well known is the name Frank Baum, author of the beloved Oz series of books.

If kids today are reading those books, I haven't heard or seen evidence of it (not like the Harry Potter series), but one man's imaginary world is still very much a part of our world.

And this, to me, stands out the most in reading "Finding Dorothy." Elizabeth Letts focuses on Baumm's wife, the daughter of a famed suffragette, and her interest in the 16-year-old actress who plays Dorothy in the movie. We get an inside look at the movie set, the cast, and the Hollywood sleazebags who exploit girls and women sexually because there will always be more where those actresses came from; millions of women and girls would trade sexual favors for a shot at stardom. Long before the #MeToo movement and Harvey Weinstein becoming a household name, directors, producers, and casting agents were taking advantage of women.

This book alternates between the widow at age 78 visiting the movie set and the little girl named Maude who grew up, married an idealistic dreamer, suffered poverty and despair when bad luck hit time and time again, and ultimately saw her husband's rich imagination vindicated. It was a long time coming. With excruciating detail, Letts describes the squalor of a cramped apartment in Chicago, a lonely home in Aberdeen, South Dakota, the incredible bazaar and emporium Frank Baum built there and the sinking ship that literally sunk his business. Frank suffered so much bad luck. It seemed Maud was crazy to give up college to marry this actor, playwright and producer whose ventures kept tanking with the economy.

What really hit home for me in reading this is the importance of people like Frank. As a society, we value the husband who gets a good job and buys the house with the white picket fence and provides for his wife and children. Maud has to take up sewing to meet household expenses, and Frank takes various odd jobs as a salesman to pay the rent and feed a growing family. Years pass before he finally strings together some of the details from their life, including Maud's niece as a role model for Dorothy and the "aaahs" of his sons over a fantastical toy-scape Frank created one Christmas, which ultimately inpsired the name "Oz," to the first book that got published and launched Frank as an author. Sadly, Frank Baum was dead before he ever saw his story brought to life in the cinema, but a memorable scene at a fair shows him excited as a child over one of the first gadgets to show moving pictures inside a box.

Our culture seems to show no respect for the dreamy idealist who'd rather write stories or music for a living, or paint, or act on stage, because that's not "real life," that's just play acting and having fun while shirking the hard work of the daily grind at the office. But after a long day at work, what do people enjoying doing when they get home? Watching a movie or TV show. Where do the suppose these shows come from? Guys and gals who go to a desk job at an office Monday through Friday? No. That is not how it works.

Almost anyone can work at a desk job, but hardly anyone can write a story as memorable as The Wizard of Oz. Frank Baum wrote other stories, and poems, but Oz is the one with all the staying power.

And the people who write epic adventures like Oz are not likely to write while working that soul-killing desk job.

As a young wife and mother, Maud is often frustrated to tears or to a weary numbness as Frank fails at one venture after another, and moves them from town to town, and Frank pleads with her to believe in him. It is a small thing, and yet it is huge. It's what drew her to him in the first place when they met in their foolish, romantic youth - Frank's imagination, his sense of wonder, his presence on stage, his utterly unconventional and sensational outlook on life. For him to marry and support a wife and child, then more children, is the kind of challenge that can grind down an artist's imagination and stifle productivity in the arts.

And who are we, what are we, without the arts?

I love this novel, even though I don't have a love of historical fiction that tries to get into the mind of a real-life person and present inner thoughts, dialogue, and specific details that did not come straight from journal entries. Conjecture - it brings a story to life, but when it's **Historical Fiction** about a **Real Person**, I find it distracting and would rather not see it in the prose.

That said, this is still a 5-star story, and I would love to have everyone take home the message that we need dreamers and idealists like Frank Baum just as we need plumbers, electricians, carpenters, farmers, truckers, and all those people who keep civilization safe and civilized.

What a delight the book is. Put some time away for this book. It has all the ingredients for a terrific read.

No spoilers from me. Can't say enough great about this. Read it today!!

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read this fabulous book.

I was so excited when my “wish” was granted on NetGalley and was able to receive.a copy of Finding Dorothy. Who doesn’t love The Wonderful Wizard Oz? I loved this story and how it was written with true stories and actual events. Putting facts alongside the original story was a great learning experience. Finishing this story put me in a moment of ahhs. 5 stars for Maud, Frank, Matilda and the entire cast of characters.

The studio doctor told Judy Garland to smoke 80 cigarettes a day???? Did you know that the tin man's costume in the Wizard of Oz was made of buckram (linen or cloth fabric-I had to look it up) covered with leather and spray-painted? Buddy Epsen, who was initially cast in the movie had a horrific allergic reaction to the aluminum paint and could not play the tin man. Like the author, I also was born in the 60s and grew up watching The Wizard of Oz on television every year around the holidays. Also like the author, I couldn't wait until that time of year to watch it with my own children. If, like me, you are a fan of L. Frank Baum's story, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and love historical fiction, I think you will love this story written from Frank's wife, Maud's perspective. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

The world behind the Wizard of Oz. We learn about Frank Baum and his wife Maud and their life together. We learn details from the making of the movie, The Wizard of Oz, and we learn more about the role of Judy Garland. Fantastic historical novel! I am a big Wizard of Oz fan so I couldn't be happier being able to read the ARC of this book! Thanks to Net Galley, the author, and the publisher.

Elizabeth Letts used children’s imagination to explore who the real Dorothy was, just as Frank Baum used children’s ideas for his story telling. Letts’ tale of Maud Baum and her interaction with Judy Garland made the plot plausible since it relied on the magic of one’s own view of OZ.

What made the book so compelling to read was Letts’ addition of historical facts and people. For me, the book instilled in me the desire to learn more about the author Frank Baum and his great creative ability.

I want to thank NetGalley and Ballantine Books for providing an ARC of this book to read and review.

This was a great story to read. I grew up watching The Wizard of Oz but I had never heard of anything that happened in this story, history wise. It was nice to get the background of Frank, the writer of the book. Maud, was a tenacious woman! I loved her commitment and dedication to hey husband. She was a force to be reckoned with trying to get as much of the spirit of the book into the movie. I love her want and desire to protect young Judy when she saw how awful everyone treated her on the set.

Wow!!!!! I am a huge fan of the Wizard of Oz. This is a beautifully written story about the Baum’s and the making of The Wizard of Oz.
I laughed and cried several times while reading this fantastic book! I highly recommend you read this, even if you aren’t a big Oz fan.

Where do I start?
This book is so much more than the story of Maud Gage Baum being L. Frank Baum's wife. It's about being a woman at a time where the role was to spit out babies and keep your mouth shut and being lucky enough to find someone who valued you as a person. That luck also included being there for all the foibles of L, Frank Baum. It is about how LONG the women's suffrage movement was and how the women who truly helped start and spearhead the movement were long deceased. Maud's mother, Matilda Joslyn Gage was one of those women and she is a major character in this book as well as a contributing factor to more than a few of Maud's decisions.

The book goes back and forth from different times in Maud's life and 1939 for the making of the film version of the Wizard of Oz. Maud is fiercely protective of her husband's legacy and what she believes Oz is to the world. The 1939 sections also show her wishing to help Judy Garland as she is manipulated by her mother and the men who want to use her for their own personal pleasure and also know her voice will be long remembered. The sections go in chronological order and you see why Maud is so protective of Oz and you understand what a deep and profound love she had with her husband.

I strongly recommend this for lovers of Oz, historical fiction, strong female characters, and great writing.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!!!

Anyone who loves The Wizard of Oz books or movie will find Dorothy Letts' historical novel engrossing. Letts gives the back story for the origins of Auntie 'M', the yellow brick road, L. Frank Baum's imaginative creations, and the characters in the books and movie. This book is a wonderful escape into the past, and also into the World of Oz.