Not my usual type of novel but I'm glad I requested this one! After Oz sets itself up as a post-Oz sequel to The Wizard of Oz and throws in a compelling murder mystery. Every once in awhile it's fun to read some printed fanfiction and this one pleased me with its freewheeling construction consisting of three principal narrative styles: the letters of the psychologist Dr. Wilford who's trying to find out who really did it, Wilford's interviews with Dorothy at the asylum, and - probably my favorite, because it's so weird - the random resident who speaks creepily in "we" sentences representing all of the townspeople. Alternating POVs like this often suffer from Everybody Sounds the Same Disease, but not in this case. Each perspective was done beautifully.

I do have complaints (because I always have those!!) and under normal circumstances this would have been a standard three star for me, especially given that the main question I had was never answered. But this was a fairly quick read that didn't overstay its welcome, and I found the structure and the story itself so refreshing that I gotta round up 3.5 to 4 stars.

My thanks to Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley the ARC.

What happened after Dorothy returned to Kansas from Oz? Gordon McAlpine weaves together a murder mystery and searing look at a small town filled with religion, sexism and ignorance. This isn’t a sequel to The Wizard of Oz by any means. Dorothy, Uncle Henry and Auntie Em (and Toto too!) are there, but only as secondary players to the town as a whole and Dr. Wilford who comes to investigate a murder after THE tornado. Overall, I did enjoy this book. I liked that the townspeople had their own POV as a whole. Dr. Wilford was certainly interesting and intriguing. What little I saw of Dorothy, I found very compelling. I do think that this book needed a bit more showing instead of just telling, especially towards the end. I also think it needed more pages to really flesh out the ending because as exciting as it was, it did feel a bit rushed. However, I still found myself very captivated by the story told here. If you’re looking for another full on take of The Wizard of Oz, this book isn’t it. What you will find though is a story of prejudice, secrets in a small town and a little bit of feminine rage.
Mini spoiler: Nothing bad happens to Toto!

CW: violence, murder, forced institutionalization, medical trauma, mentions of suicide, alcoholism, verbal abuse

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for an advanced digital reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

The end of the 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz, is a happy one. Dorothy has returned home after a tornado whisked her away from her Kansas home. She is reunited with her aunt and uncle. The Wicked Witch is dead and gone. Gordon McAlpine recasts that happy moment in After Oz into a psychological puzzle and a chilling murder mystery. Dorothy Gale herself is relegated to the background while a psychologist, Dr. Evelyn Wilford, and her hometown itself wonder what to make of the young girl.

After Oz begins with the tornado itself. Aunt Emily searches for a missing Dorothy before she is forced to take shelter. Dorothy is still missing when the storm passes and the town of Sunbonnet, Kansas, mobilizes to search for her. Four days later, Dorothy is found with Toto, sleeping in a pumpkin patch. The reunion, in McAlpine’s telling, is not a happy one. When asked where she has been for so long, Dorothy tells a story of a strange land, a scarecrow, and all the other things we know from the original book and movie. And then Dorothy tells her uncle, aunt, and the local doctor that she killed a witch, though she didn’t mean to. The adults might’ve been able to dismiss this confession with the rest of her story if it weren’t for the fact that a body, disfigured by lye, is discovered in town.

As fast as the tornado that whisked Dorothy away to Oz (if you believe her story), Dorothy is declared guilty of murder and sent to an asylum in Topeka. Mental health care being what it was in 1896, when people like William James, Sigmund Freud, and Jean-Martin Charcot were creating the field of psychology from whole cloth, Dorothy is in real danger of being driven insane. Dr. Wilford, a protégé of William James, wrangles a handful of interviews with Dorothy.

As Dr. Wilford is charmed by Dorothy, the town of Sunbonnet takes a turn as narrator. “We” are very concerned with appearances, with respectability, with reputation. Dorothy, to their way of thinking, is a dangerous and disruptive force in their little town. Sending her away to Topeka was a relief and “We” very much resent having Dr. Wilford showing up and poking her nose into everyone’s business.

Though I very much sympathized with Dorothy and Dr. Wilford, I struggled to decide which unreliable narrator I should trust. Sunbonnet is more than happy to sweep things under the rug and repeat all the gossip about Dorothy. The town becomes increasingly sinister as the plot thickens. Dr. Wilford is not entirely reliable either. She recounts her story in very long letters to her mentor, Dr. James. These letters reveal all kinds of details that make it very easy to question—if not doubt outright—Dr. Wilford’s academic and medical objectivity. (Fun detail: the coda of After Oz is a letter from Dr. Wilford to her cousin, L. Frank Baum.)

The unreliable narrators plus the mystery of what happened to the dead woman and why make After Oz a highly engaging read. I was immediately hooked by this moody book. I should warn readers who are hoping for an actual retelling of or a new sequel to The Wizard of Oz à la Gregory Maguire’s Wicked that they will be disappointed. I recommend that readers who are intrigued by the premise of this book just allow the book to take it where it will instead of wondering when flying monkeys will show up.

Several days after her aunt and uncle's farmhouse is scooped up by a tornado then dropped into a splintered pile of wreckage, eleven year old Dorothy Gale is found unharmed in a pumpkin patch with her little dog at her side. She tells a detailed story about the colorful land she visited, the friends she made there, and the witch she accidentally melted. Unfortunately, a local woman has been found with her face burned away, as if melted, by lye.

This is the story of the young female psychologist who visits Dorothy in the asylum and tries to decipher what actually happened. It's not quite what I was expecting -- there are very few references to the original book. Instead, it's a procedural mystery as Dr. Evelyn Grace Wilford tries to find out what actually happened to the spinster and if little Dorothy is as innocent as she claims. The people of Sunbonnet, Kansas are an unpleasant bunch. I don't know if I've ever read so many bible quotes in such a short book, religious or not (and this one is definitely not.) The original book describes a sad, gray world that Dorothy escapes and in this book she's right back in it. As bleak as it all is, the author kept me interested until the very end.

I devoured this book. We often explore the origin stories of Wizard of Oz, but rarely what happens after. After Oz is the story of Dorothy, post twister. It's unique, immersive and captivating the entire time. I've already recommended it to a few people and will continue to do so once the book is published next month. Perfect timing with Wicked press tour beginning soon. 4/5

What happens after Dorothy returns to Kansas? She comes back from Oz saying she didn't mean to kill the witch. How was she to know that water would melt her?! At first the town just thinks she's insane but after a local woman, known as "the witch", is found dead in her home, Dorothy's story becomes the ramblings of a murder.

I'm slightly biased here because I will probably love any story related to The Wizard Oz -- it's one of my childhood favorites. I liked this dark take on Dorothy's life after Oz. It makes total sense that a small God-fearing town would claim she's insane and send her off to an asylum. There's an alternating POV between the collective town perspective and the psychologist that I think worked well to propel the story forward. The structure of this book reminded me a bit of Dracula, probably because of the use of letter writing to tell the tale.
If you're a fan of Oz, you'll want to read After Oz.

After Oz takes place directly after the events of the Wizard of Oz. Dorothy goes missing and is found four days later. The townsfolk are relieved. Dorothy tells everyone what happened to her in Oz. No one believes her. When someone in the town ends up murdered everyone thinks that Dorothy did it. She is sent to the Topeka Insane Asylum. When Dr. Grace Wilford arrived to interview Dorothy she is not convinced that Dorothy murdered anyone. Will she be able to help the misunderstood Dorothy?

I thought this was such an interesting take on the Wizard of Oz. Because we never really get much context to what happened to Dorothy after she arrived home. I really liked the first half of this book. I felt like the second half dragged on a little bit. I also feel like we could have used less religious references. I understand why they were used but it just seemed a bit too much at times. But this was a very interesting book. If you like the Wizard of Oz I would give this a read.

Very interesting take on what became of Dorothy after the tornado. It seemed a bit rushed at the end - but totally understood after the end,.

I am here to say that I really enjoyed this book. I loved its darkness and the fear that twisted throughout this read. I couldn’t set this book down and had to finish it in my sitting OF COURSE. There was murder mystery and much suspense to this book and I enjoyed that as well, but I was very intrigued with our POV’s…a townsman and the doctor in our book. The writing is very well done and the storyline is great as well. I loved what the author did with this reimagining of the original story we all grew up knowing and keeps you captivated with this new twist. I can’t wait to watch what McAlpine comes out with next.

Pub Date: Aug 06, 2024

Thank you @netgalley , @crookedlanebooks and author for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

If you're like me, you loved the Wizard of Oz as a little kid. If you're also like me, you preferred Return to Oz, because it was darker, weirder, and you're still darker and weirder as an adult. This book is what happens after Dorothy returns, and it is amazing. The story gives a good hard look at the Kansas of the time, and how Dorothy would have been seen if she told everyone what happened on her trip to Oz. The writing was amazing, the story and character arcs were great as well. The personalities that were developed for Uncle Henry and Auntie Em were so aptly created, and Toto was there too. I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone who thinks fondly on Dorothy, but also has a sense of realism and wants to know how normal people would respond to someone like Dorothy returning with tall, fantastical tales like the ones she likely did.

This ebook was provided by NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This was a great murder mystery and a stellar look at the relationship between the budding study of psychology and small-town traditional values and religion.
The actual story of Dorothy’s adventures in Oz are barely touched here. This is rather a framework for the book, explaining the world that Dorothy was coming from and how it shaped what she experienced during and after her journey to Oz.
It’s dark and somewhat bleak, but I think it’s a great read for anyone who enjoys gritty frontier fiction and amateur detective stories.

I did not expect to like this book as much as I did. I've always been a fan of "The Wizard of Oz" by Frank Baum as well as the movie adaptation so I wasn't sure what to expect, however I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. This is a fantastic and unique take on the story. There were my favorite elements of mystery and thriller woven throughout that made the story all the more enjoyable. Some of the writing was technical and advanced, however it is set to be in the 1800s and the speech was true to that time. I honestly felt I was transported to small town rural Kansas and there among the characters.

Overall I would rate this book at 4/5 stars. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this novel.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this ARC.

I love the Wizard of Oz. And this dark spooky tale of when Dorothy returns to her town is absolutely amazing! I do wish Toto was in it more. I flew through this book and didn't want it to end.

As a Wizard of Oz collector and lover, I needed to read this! I loved the spin on what happened to Dorothy after Oz, but think this could’ve been executed so much differently. I thought some of this story was far fetched and I really wish the characters and events of Oz from the original books / movie were mentioned more.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for allowing me to read an ARC of this book. I was so excited to get to read this book; the idea of what happened to Dorothy AFTER she got back from Oz is a great concept. Her being put into an insane asylum was a nice idea; of course that's where she'd go after coming back from being missing for 4 days and talking about a fantastical world of witches, a tin man and talking animals. Overall I enjoyed reading this book; there was a patch of the book where I struggled to get through but I powered through and am glad I did. I really liked how it all played out. Great book!

After Oz offers a haunting twist on the classic tale of Dorothy's journey to Oz. Set against the backdrop of 19th-century Kansas, the novel explores the aftermath of a devastating tornado and Dorothy's inexplicable disappearance. As she returns with fantastical tales, the small town reacts with fear and suspicion, leading to accusations of murder and witchcraft. The murder mystery adds depth to the narrative, keeping readers engaged until the final revelation. While some characters may feel trope-like, Gordon McAlpine crafts a compelling story filled with themes of prejudice and the truth. Though the pacing may lag at times, the intricate blend of fantasy and reality makes for an intriguing read that lingers in the mind long after the last page.

Gordon McAlpine's book, After Oz, is a completely different take on the story The Wizard of Oz with Dorothy and all of the friends she made there trying to get back home. In this book, someone, or something has it out for Miss Dorothy, but who could it be? Mr. McAlpine does a wonderful job leading up to the question of the hour, then he spends the rest of the book answering that question, but right when you think you have it answered, Mr. Alpine hits you with a curve ball and makes you rethink everything you thought you knew.. I must say, After Oz was a real surprise to read,and I hope to read more by Mr. Alpine soon!

This very clever novel takes one of the world's beloved classics and reimagines it as a murder mystery as well as a social commentary that is as fitting today as it would be 100 years ago. A tornado tears through a pious Kansas town, causing Dorothy Gale to disappear for several days.
When she is found alive and well with a fantastical tale to tell, the townspeople don't react as millions of fans of the Wizard of Oz have. I loved this and can't wait to share it.

_After Oz_ by Gordon McAlpine is a dark retelling of _The Wizard of Oz_ featuring small town Kansas and multiple points of view. Told from the perspectives of a townsperson and the visiting psychologist Dr. Evelyn Grace Wilford, it focuses on the aftermath of a devastating tornado and the missing girl Dorothy who reappears with a fanciful tale. A grisly murder is soon discovered, resulting in a trial and dramatic events that will upset the tranquility of the rural town. It is an entertaining and original retelling that will keep the reader engaged to the end.

Did you ever wonder what happened after Dorothy returns from Oz? This book is a dark look at what occurs after the events of "The Wizard of Oz", and to be honest, I was hooked.

The small town in Kansas is distressed following a tornado where young Dorothy Gale went missing. She's found in a pumpkin patch four days later rambling about a magical land of talking animals, wizards, and melting witches. The town is scared, and Dorothy is sent away to an asylum. As psychiatrists try to reason with Dorothy, a bigger mystery is unveiled-- a nearby neighbor was found melted in her home. Is Dorothy a killer? Are these more than just hallucinations?

What I loved about this book is how the author put the story of Oz in the perspective of 1890's rural Kansas. The town is extremely religious, so of course they're going to be unsettled by the talk of this young girl. At the same time, the author has put a modern twist by adding a female doctor and dives deep into the history of mental health care.

The murder mystery really was a great layer to this story. It kept me guessing up to the very end where there were so many twists and turns that I didn't see coming. The original story is woven so intricately into the tale that it's so much fun to see here. It gives me "The Scarlet Letter" vibes.

The pacing was a little slow for me, especially in the first half of the book. It got a lot faster towards the end when all these plot twists started happening. That being said, I really did enjoy the plot and thought it was unique.

Before this novel, I never really considered what people might think of Dorothy when she gets back, but this novel really makes sense. Despite the dark and unsettling undertones, it truly could reflect what might have happened had these events actually taken place.