Finding Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts is an enjoyable novel—especially if you are a fan of the Oz books by L. Frank Baum or the famous movie The Wizard of Oz. But it is a novel—remember that as you read it. One can tell that the author did a lot of research into the known historical facts about her novel’s characters which are based on real people and on the settings, but then she had to imagine and conjecture which is why historical novels ARE NOT nonfiction. Some of the author’s conjecture seems plausible, and some does not, but the book is entertaining nonetheless.

In the Afterword at the end of the book, here is the author’s narrative about what inspired her to write the book:

“My own story about Dorothy began in 1965 when I was four years old, living in a suburb of Houston with my family. The owners of a local television store opened up after hours and invited the neighborhood folk to come watch the annual network screening of The Wizard of Oz on one of their brand-new color TVs. Like so many other people, I’ve never forgotten the first time I saw this legendary film. And as did so many others, I felt that the character of Dorothy belonged just to me. In the 1960s, sandwiched between two brothers, I knew that girls were not equal to boys—we couldn’t wear pants to school or play on sports teams. I figured out instinctively that Dorothy was the kind of little girl I wanted to be—one who could stare down a lion, melt a witch, tame a wizard. From that day forward, Dorothy became my imaginary friend.

About six or seven years ago, I was reading The Wonderful Wizard of Oz aloud to my son when I found myself wondering about the author. Why was I so familiar with his creations yet knew nothing about the man who had created them? And then when I read about him, I suddenly felt as if I understood why this man, in particular, had created one of American literature’s most spunky and enduring female characters.

Baum’s wife, Maud Gage Baum, was a tour de force, completely unlike most Victorian women. Not surprising: Maud was the daughter of one of the nineteenth century’s most outspoken advocates for the rights of women. In 1876, Maud’s mother, Matilda Joslyn Gage, helped to pen a Declaration of the Rights of Women, then marched, uninvited, onto the dais of America’s centennial celebration to hand the document to a startled Senator John Ferry, then acting vice president, with her close friends Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton at her side. Matilda fought for women’s access to higher education, helping to ensure her daughter Maud’s place as one of Cornell University’s first female undergraduates. And yet Maud chose to defy her formidable mother by running away with an itinerant theater man named L. Frank Baum, demonstrating the very independence of spirit that her mother had taught her. Maud never regretted her decision. Theirs was a great love. Frank and Maud remained devoted partners throughout the rest of their lives.

But it was not until I stumbled across a 1939 photograph of Judy Garland and Maud Baum seated next to each other, reading The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, that I realized I had found a story to tell. Maud Gage was born in 1861, shortly before the first shots were fired at Fort Sumter, sparking the Civil War. When I learned that Maud, aged seventy-eight, had met Judy Garland, aged sixteen, on the set of The Wizard of Oz in 1939, I needed to know more. How had this meeting ever come to pass? What might they have talked about?”

The book’s plot follows two storylines. One traces the courtship, marriage and adult life of Maud Baum, and the other transpires on the set of the movie, The Wizard of Oz, in 1939 in which Maud tries to make sure that the movie is true to her husband’s book, but also tries to protect a young, vulnerable Judy Garland.

Thank you Ballantine Books and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader’s Copy of the book and for allowing me to review it.

Nostalgia reigns supreme in this book. For all of us who grew up loving and watching "The Wizard of Oz" year after year, this book delivers. It's interesting to see how the making of the movie, through the eyes of Maud, the author's wife, explained the intricacies of the plot and characters.
As in any book deemed historical fiction, the reader must remember that some literary license has been used.
It's a sweet read that makes you want to see the movie again and again.

This is a beautiful story about Maude, the wife of the creator of the well known book, "The Wizard of Oz". This is her story both beautifully researched and also with a bit of fantasy this novel is great for any Wizard of Oz fans. I loved it.

I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book free of charge. This is my honest and unbiased opinion of it.

If you love Wizard of OZ, this is the book for you. The intertwining of Maud's story with the movie brings things to a whole new level. I will definitely be recommending this book to our woman's book club!

Over the Rainbow and into Emerald City I was hooked with the first sentence. Being a BIG fan of The Wizard of Oz Elizabeth Letts took me to another place while reading Finding Dorothy. Just as the story Wicked did for me, FINDING DOROTHY gave me so much joy and a different perspective on the classic book. Lets face it we all know the movie so well, Elizabeth gives you the background behind the scenes at MGM. She gave us a glimpse of how it might have felt being on the lot and set with the actors that would live on as legends. I picked this book for my book club this month and I can not wait to hear what my loyal and lively group has to say. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.....there's no place better then between the pages of a good book. I could have stayed in Oz land a lot longer. Loved it. 4 stars

First line: It was a city within a city, a textile mill to weave the gossamer of fantasy on looping looms of celluloid.

Summary: Maud Gage Baum, the widow of the author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, visits the set of the filming of The Wizard of Oz where she meets the young star, Judy Garland. Maud immediately feels a connection and need to protect the sixteen year old actress who will be portraying Dorothy. Told through flashbacks we see Maud’s life with husband, L. Frank Baum as they start out touring the country with a theater group to owning their own dry goods store to becoming a literary success.

Highlights: This was a fun jaunt through the history of one of the greatest movies/books of all time. I remember watching the movies numerous times as a child before I ever picked up one of the books. It is so much different but each are wonderful in their own ways. Nothing beats Judy Garland singing ‘Over the Rainbow’.
I know that the author took some liberties with the history to help suit the timeline and layout of her novel but the background of this iconic story is fascinating. Such a successful man (or so I would have assumed) struggled so much trying to find his place in the world. He tried multiple different careers before he wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Even though his story is entertaining, his wife was the strong one.
Maud Gage Baum was the daughter of famous suffragette, Matilda Joslyn Gage. She was a strong advocate for women’s right to vote, fighting alongside Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. Maud learned from her to be bold and speak her mind. As I read I could tell that having such a strong mother helped Maud navigate her life with an eccentric husband and battling the studio to do justice to his novel.
I loved every interaction that Maud had with Judy Garland. It is hard to imagine that Judy was only sixteen when she was cast in the role that sky rocketed her career. The poor girl had to deal with unbelievable things while preparing for this role including smoking 80 cigarettes a day and taking diet pills to keep her trim. It is outrageous. Maud tries to help Judy as much as possible in order to keep her promise to Frank to watch over “Dorothy”. This is the most heartwarming part of the novel, watching Maud make sure that Judy is Dorothy and Dorothy is Judy, and fighting for her.

Lowlights: There were several historical inaccuracies that are easily overlooked but at times also drove me a little crazy. One of Maud’s sisters was completely left out of the story. And the idea behind the character, Dorothy, was changed. However, the story does not suffer for any of this. Letts does a great job of weaving a fun and intricate story filled with all the magic of Oz.

FYI: Pick up the Oz books! Watch the movie!

I struggled to stay interested in this book. I definitely preferred the story line of young Maud over the filming of the movie. There were some moments that had me hooked but then we changed time periods and I lost interest. I usually enjoy books that jump back and forth between time as they provide a fuller storyline. I just really struggled to care.

Maud is a university student who is pursuing a degree. One day, she drops out of college to marry a struggling actor named Frank L. Baum. The couple experiences many hard times. However, Frank is very optimistic and believes in the world of imagination. He penns The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which becomes a bestseller. Decades later, MGM Studios is making a movie based on the book. Maud believes that she should Judy Garland, the actress who play Dorothy, and help her to become a star.

The novel has two storylines. The first storyline tells the story of Maud’s courtship and marriage to Frank L. Baum, and how their experiences led to the inspiration of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The other storyline focuses on how Maud help Judy with her personal struggles on the movie set. Honestly, I found the second storyline to be more intriguing than the first because I loved how it focused on the making of the movie and the problems Judy faced while playing Dorothy.

I liked Maud’s character better in her later years rather than her early years. In her early years, Maud was a very frustrating character. She is practical. However, unlike her passionate suffragette mother, she does not seem to have any interest in women’s rights. She also demeans and patronizes her husband for having an imagination. She doesn't even support her husband during the publication of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and believes he will fail.

In Maud’s later years, she is completely different woman. She is proud of how far women have progressed She is proud that her mother was a suffragette. Most of all, she is portrayed as a supportive wife, who shares her husband’s craving of the imagination. She is proud of her husband for having published The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Because of these stark contrasts of the same character, I wonder what had changed Maud’s believe in her husband. Is it because it was a bestseller? Would she still have been supportive of her husband had the book failed or would she have reprimanded him for publishing the book? Thus, I did not fully believe in Maud’s transformation.

Overall, this novel is about hardships, determination, and love. While I did not think Maud was a fully developed character, I like how well-rounded the other characters are. Frank never gave up in his dreams, even though everyone was telling him to quit. Judy was a young talented actress but she had many personal hardships on set to overcome. The writing was strong but suffered from too much telling rather than showing. Still, ths novel kept me captivated because it featured my favorite star Judy Garland from Old Hollywood and my favorite childhood movie, The Wizard of Oz. I recommend Finding Dorothy for fans of The Paris Wife, Call Me Zelda, and Becoming Mrs. Lewis.

Loved this book! Beautifully written, wonderful characters, I just loved it. The character development was very well done.

It's an interesting story about the history leading up to the book and subsequent movie, The Wizard of Oz. Filled with a lot of interesting facts about the Baum family, it tells about the challenges, failures and triumphs, many against outstanding odds. Even though it was enjoyable and I learned a lot about what influenced the famous story, it just wasn't very captivating for me. It was somewhat flat and boring in spots so I probably wouldn't personally recommend it.

Elizabeth Letts pulls back the curtain in "Finding Dorothy," a fictionalized, yet based on fact, story of Maud Baum, the woman behind Frank Baum and "The Wizard of Oz." The author has definitely done her research to give readers an appreciation of the strong woman who stood behind, and often pushed, her husband to embrace his literacy genius and create a classic for all ages.

The story begins with Maud pushing her way onto the set of the filming of "The Wizard of Oz," and a chance meeting with a young Judy Garland. Knowing what she did about the novel's origins, Maud didn't think Judy was right for the role. - at first. But in Judy, Maud saw much of the Dorothy character's struggles in a time not yet ready to acknowledge women, their rights and their role in the world.

Maud knew first-hand how hard it was to be recognized in a man's world. She grew up with a suffragette as a mother and was taught to have a voice, a loud voice, even if few were listening. When she married Frank, an actor, she learned about hard times, financial struggles, failing health - all manners of things that could have crippled her soul. Yet, in Letts' novel, Maud stands strong, giving her husband time and support to let his imagination run wild..

"Finding Dorothy" is a must-read for Frank Baum fans who fell in love with his magical world. As readers learn more about his life, they'll come to love Maud - as a devoted wife, mother and woman who fought her own battles to stand up for others.

Letts provides new insights into the filming of The Wizard of Oz through the eyes of Maud Baum. Through careful and extensive research, Letts successfully portrays the life of Maud and Frank and how their life experiences led to writing The Wizard of Oz. Along the way, the reader is given insight into depression era life and the suffragette movement in the late nineteenth century. Maud is truly remarkable as she finds her way as an individual separate from her famous mother and the wife of Frank.
Recounting Maud's life with her husband and her dedication to his memory as she sought to make sure that the film maintained the spirit of Frank provided compelling reading. Maud's personality and character comes through in her interactions with the director, producer, song writers, and Judy Garland, who she tried to mentor and protect throughout the filming.
For those who love literature and the story behind the story, this book will be compelling. The book is well-researched and well-written. The characters are developed and the time and culture of various periods in Maud's history is very descriptive. I would recommend this book to all who just love a good story. And for those who really want to know the inspiration for Dorothy.

I still remember the first time I saw The Wonderful Wizard of Oz on TV...many, many years ago. I've watched it many times since and it never fails to entertain. Lions and tigers and bears. Oh, my, can still start a conversation on what you loved most about the movie. Elizabeth Letts builds on those memories and feelings by giving us the story behind the curtain.
The author of OZ never saw the movie. His wife is the steward of his books insuring the story comes alive as he saw it. This book is so good I'm not sure how to describe how Ms Letts brings the reader into the story and shows them the "movie" of Baum's life and how she remembers the journey to Oz. It's a wonderfully researched and written, bringing the characters front and center while the readers readily feel as if they are in the story along side. I'm so glad I read this book. I've recommended it to everyone in my reading family.

I have always loved The Wizard of Oz movie and couldn’t wait to read Finding Dorothy! Elizabeth Letts tells the story of a young Maud Gage Baum and her life with L. Frank Baum along with the making of the movie version of Baum’s famous book. I loved reading how Baum’s real life was woven into his book. This is a must read glimpse behind the scenes of one of our most cherished books and movie adaptation.

Finding Dorothy caught my eye after seeing it on several Instagram accounts. A book that tells the story behind The Wizard of Oz while incorporating the making of the movie - well definitely count me in. Thank you Netgalley and Ballantine books for a free review copy in exchange for a honest review.

While I started out reading this book, I ended up buying the audiobook. I have found that, at times, audiobooks engage me more with the story more the reading of it. In any case I was enchanted by this book. I hadn’t realized that the bulk of the story would be told through Maud - Frank L Baum’s wife and initially wasn’t sure if we were going to be a fit. However, once I understood how the story would flow I became wrapped up in first Maud and then Maud and Frank’s life. The descriptions of their travels, the places they lived and the experiences they had were vividly written and I could easily picture them in my mind.


The true heart of the book, for me, where the characters. Maud, fiercely independent but utterly devoted to Frank and their family. Frank , a creative genius, who loves his family and wants to provide for them while also maintaining his creative spirit. Julia, stoic and determined but who struggles with the way her life turned out. I could go on as there are many more including Maud’s mother, a leading woman in the suffragette cause, and Judy Garland. It is suffice to say the author did an outstanding job bringing these historical characters to life.


If you enjoy stories based on historical figures or even enjoy ones based on fascinating characters who are richly developed then highly recommend you pick up this gem up!

I enjoyed the time I spent with Elizabeth Lett’s Finding Dorothy, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say I have mixed feelings about the book.

On one hand, I think those who love the books and/or the movie will love the nostalgia of this volume. Told as a dual narrative, the book chronicles the Baum marriage and the development of the books as well as Mrs. Baum’s effort to ensure the spirit of the novels was retained in the beloved MGM adaptation.

On the other, I feel those who are less attached to either will be challenged by the tone of the narration. The story is a slow and sympathetic and while its themes are interesting, I felt the presentation less than seamless. For the sake of example, I felt he suffragette movement as seen in the 1800s storyline brilliant, but I didn’t feel the fight for the vote flowed naturally into the sexual abuses of Hollywood’s shamelessly misogynistic leadership in the 1930s.

To put it simply, Finding Dorothy tries to be both Finding Neverland and Saving Mr. Banks but doesn’t quite capture the magic of either. It’s a sweet and big-hearted story that stands as an ode to both Baum’s imagination and Victor Fleming’s vision, but I’d be hesitant to recommend it to those who are only casually interested in the land of Oz.

From Goodreads: Thanks to the digital review copy, I finished reading just ahead of its release in early February. This is an interesting take on a familiar subject: The Wizard of Oz movie. This time we meet L. Frank Baum's widow, Maud, who is alive and attempting to make Hollywood stick to the book while making the film. I loved Maud and her tenacity. Great book. I didn't want to put it down.

I'm pleased to have another historical fiction featuring the life of a woman 'behind the man,' similar to "Loving Frank" and "Under the Wide and Starry Sky." My guess is that this will be a favorite for bookclubs because you can do so much with it including a re-read of The Wizard of Oz, re-watching the film and possibly reading about the life of Judy Garland.

I'm sorry to say that I didn't even manage to finish this book. I found the story to be very dry and neither storylines (the 1880s and Hollywood) worked for me. I found myself totally uninterested in Maud's upbringing and marriage. Although I found Maud's mother, Matilda, to be pretty awesome. I wouldn't mind reading a book about her story instead.

If the book had focused solely on the Hollywood story would I perhaps have managed to finish the book. The backside of Hollywood is always interesting to read about. Alas, I'm not even sure about that because I found Maud meddling on the set just annoying. I've never read the books and the movie is not a favorite of mine, so perhaps it's not that odd that I didn't find the story that engrossing.

Finding Dorothy is a unique and entertaining book. The tale is of Maud Baum, the wife of famous author L. Frank Baum who penned the Oz books. Maud is concerned about keeping her promise to her late husband . She promised to do everything she could to ensure that the MGM film of the Wizard of Oz stayed true to his creation. Maud struggles to get the studio to take her seriously - the 1930's were not a time when women had much of a voice. She meets young Judy Garland and takes it upon herself to watch out for Dorothy/Judy. This is harder then it seems - the young, gifted artist is taken advantage at every turn. They didn't count on Maud's perseverance and dedication.As Maud is waiting for meetings, or watching filming, she flashes back to the journey that got her there, beginning with attending Cornell University and meeting her future husband. Maud's mother, Matilda Gage, was a confirmed suffragette who traveled about lecturing with Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Matilda worked hard to get Maud into the first female class admitted to the prestigious Cornell University. Maud was excited, but not happy. She met Frank Baum over school break at her room mate's party. The instant attraction was squashed by Matilda who did not raise her daughter to marry a theater man, but love won out and Maud joined Frank and the company. Frank found more stable work as Maud became pregnant with their first child. The couple over came many obstacles and Maud stood staunchly by Frank as fate led them from the Dakota wilderness to Chicago and Frank's creation of Oz.

Elizabeth produced a well researched, well written book detailing the Baum family's struggles and Frank's journey to produce one of the best loved books in the world. Maud's loyalty to her husband is amazing as her persistence results in a movie that her husband would have loved, and a more confident and nurtured Judy Garland as her rendition of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" becomes a beloved hit. While this is a book of fiction, its obviously based on facts and was a fascinating read. This book is suitable for young adults but I think people of all ages, especially fans of Frank Baum, will love it!

I really enjoyed this book and had to keep reminding myself that it's historical fiction and not all necessarily totally true. That's how realistic the writing was to me. The author does a very good job of describing the characters and imagining the interactions between them. I loved Maude though I wonder if she was really as progressive as she appears in this book. Many books of historical fiction sort of 'rewrite history' with the feelings of today. Whether that is the case here or not doesn't really matter because the well-paced story stands on its own.