Long before Dorothy visits Oz, her aunt, Emily Gale, sets off on her own grand adventure, leaving gritty Chicago behind for Kansas and a life that will utterly change her, in this transporting novel from New York Times bestselling author Hazel Gaynor.
Intrigued? Well read on to discover the synopsis and an excerpt from Hazel Gaynor’s Before Dorothy, which is out June 17th 2025.
Chicago, 1924: Emily and her new husband, Henry, yearn to leave the bustle of Chicago for the promise of their own American dream among the harsh beauty of the prairie. But leaving the city means leaving Emily’s beloved sister, Annie, who was once closer to her than anyone in the world.
Kansas, 1932: Emily and Henry have established their new home among the warmth of the farming community in Kansas. Aligned to the fickle fortunes of nature, their lives hold a precarious and hopeful purpose, until tragedy strikes and their orphaned niece, Dorothy, lands on their doorstep.
The wide-eyed child isn’t the only thing to disrupt Emily’s world. Drought and devastating dust storms threaten to destroy everything, and her much-loved home becomes a place of uncertainty and danger. When the past catches up with the present and old secrets are exposed, Emily fears she will lose the most cherished thing of all: Dorothy.
Bursting with courage and heart, Before Dorothy tells the story of the woman who raised a beloved heroine, and ponders the question: what is the true meaning of home?
Stomach full of knots, she went to wish Dorothy goodnight, watching her silently for a moment through a crack in the doorframe. She looked so small and alone in the middle of her bed as she packed a small suitcase with a few favourite books and agonising over which toys to take and which to leave behind.
Emily still couldn’t quite comprehend that the child was coming to live with them. Not just for a week, or a short holiday, but until she was old enough to have a home and a family of her own. The months and years ahead seemed to spool at Emily’s feet like a thousand unravelled cotton reels. How would they ever untangle their very separate lives and thread this new family together?
She stepped into the bedroom and showed Dorothy the tin woodcutter. “I thought you might like this. He belonged to your mother.”
Dorothy took the little man and turned him over in her hands. “What is it?”
“He’s a tin man. His name is Twig. Your grandfather made one for each of his daughters when he worked at the steel mills. You can keep him if you like.”
Dorothy smiled at the little man as she put him on her nightstand beside her lion. “Hello, Twig. I’m Dorothy. And this is Lion. We’re going to live in a place called Kansas. It’s very far away, but you mustn’t be afraid.”
As Dorothy spoke, Emily pictured Annie in a frosty boarding house room on Christmas morning, her eyes alight with wonder as she admired the little tin men their father had made for each of them, and suddenly her heart surged with affection for the child. Finally, she felt a connection, a bond forged by the tin woodman.
“Why can’t I take all my toys to Kansas?” Dorothy asked as she closed her suitcase and fastened the buckles.
“Well, we don’t have room for them all for a start. There are rather a lot.” The child had clearly been spoiled. “And I thought you might like to give some to a children’s orphanage, for the boys and girls who don’t have toys to play with.”
“What’s an orphanage?”
“It’s where children go to be looked after when they don’t have a mommy or daddy to look after them. They’re called orphans, and they live at the orphanage.”
Dorothy thought about this for a moment. “Am I an orphan?”
The word pierced Emily’s heart. It was so bleak, so lonely.
“You’re what’s known as a niece. My niece. And Uncle Henry’s. A very special niece.”
“Where do nieces go to be looked after? Do they go to Kansas?”
Emily’s hands stalled for a moment as she pulled up the bedcovers and tucked Dorothy in tight beneath them. “Yes, dear. That’s right. They go to Kansas.”
Excerpted from Before Dorothy by Hazel Gaynor.
Copyright © 2025 by Hazel Gaynor.
Excerpted by permission of Berkley. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
