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Finding Dorothy : a novel / Elizabeth Letts.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: [New York] : Random House Large Print, [2019]Copyright date: ©2019Edition: First large print editionDescription: 500 pages (large print) ; 24 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9781984885012
  • 1984885014
Subject(s): Genre/Form: Summary: Reimagines the story behind the creation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" from the perspective of L. Frank Baum's intrepid wife, Maud, whose hardscrabble life on the Dakota prairie inspires her husband's masterpiece and her advocacy of an exploited Judy Garland.Summary: Hollywood, 1938. MGM is adapting her late husband's masterpiece for the screen, and seventy-seven-year-old Maud Gage Baum wants to be on the set. The moment she hears Judy Garland rehearsing the first notes of "Over the Rainbow," Maud recognizes the yearning that defined her own life story: from her youth as a suffragette's daughter to her coming of age as one of the first women in the Ivy League, from her blossoming romance with Frank to the hardscrabble prairie years that inspired The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. With the young actress under pressure from the studio as well as her ambitious stage mother, Maud resolves to protect her -- the way she tried so hard to protect the real Dorothy. -- adapted from back cover
Fiction notes: Click to open in new window
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Large Print Book Large Print Book Main Library Large Print Fiction Letts, Elizabet Available 33111009572641
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

This richly imagined novel tells the story behind The Wonderful Wizard of Oz , the book that inspired the iconic film, through the eyes of author L. Frank Baum's intrepid wife, Maud.

"A breathtaking read that will transport you over the rainbow and into the heart of one of America's most enduring fairy tales."--Lisa Wingate, author of Before We Were Yours

Hollywood, 1938: As soon as she learns that M-G-M is adapting her late husband's masterpiece for the screen, seventy-seven-year-old Maud Gage Baum sets about trying to finagle her way onto the set. Nineteen years after Frank's passing, Maud is the only person who can help the producers stay true to the spirit of the book--because she's the only one left who knows its secrets.

But the moment she hears Judy Garland rehearsing the first notes of "Over the Rainbow," Maud recognizes the yearning that defined her own life story, from her youth as a suffragette's daughter to her coming of age as one of the first women in the Ivy League, from her blossoming romance with Frank to the hardscrabble prairie years that inspired The Wonderful Wizard of Oz . Judy reminds Maud of a young girl she cared for and tried to help in South Dakota, a dreamer who never got her happy ending. Now, with the young actress under pressure from the studio as well as her ambitious stage mother, Maud resolves to protect her--the way she tried so hard to protect the real Dorothy.

The author of two New York Times bestselling nonfiction books , The Eighty-Dollar Champion and The Perfect Horse , Elizabeth Letts is a master at discovering and researching a rich historical story and transforming it into a page-turner. Finding Dorothy is the result of Letts's journey into the amazing lives of Frank and Maud Baum. Written as fiction but based closely on the truth, Elizabeth Letts's new book tells a story of love, loss, inspiration, and perseverance, set in America's heartland.

Praise for Finding Dorothy

"In some ways reminiscent of Jerry Stahl's excellent I, Fatty , Letts' Finding Dorothy combines exhaustive research with expansive imagination, blending history and speculation into a seamless tapestry. . . . It's a testament to Letts' skill that she can capture on the page, without benefit of audio, that same emotion we have all felt sometime over the last 80 years while listening to 'Over the Rainbow.'" -- BookPage (starred review)

Reimagines the story behind the creation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" from the perspective of L. Frank Baum's intrepid wife, Maud, whose hardscrabble life on the Dakota prairie inspires her husband's masterpiece and her advocacy of an exploited Judy Garland.

Hollywood, 1938. MGM is adapting her late husband's masterpiece for the screen, and seventy-seven-year-old Maud Gage Baum wants to be on the set. The moment she hears Judy Garland rehearsing the first notes of "Over the Rainbow," Maud recognizes the yearning that defined her own life story: from her youth as a suffragette's daughter to her coming of age as one of the first women in the Ivy League, from her blossoming romance with Frank to the hardscrabble prairie years that inspired The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. With the young actress under pressure from the studio as well as her ambitious stage mother, Maud resolves to protect her -- the way she tried so hard to protect the real Dorothy. -- adapted from back cover

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