The new emotional and gripping historical novel of survival and sacrifice from bestselling author of The Last Lifeboat
The greatest journey is the one you least expect…
The greatest journey is the one you least expect…
Long before Dorothy visits Oz, her aunt, Emily Gale, sets off on her own unforgettable adventure much closer to home…
When news reaches Kansas that her beloved sister has tragically died, Emily Gale must become a mother overnight. Her sister’s orphaned child, Dorothy, desperately needs a home.
But Emily doubts her ability to fill her sister’s shoes; her life on the barren Kansas prairies is no place for a child.
On the unforgiving plains, Emily's courage is endlessly tested. The prolonged drought and relentless dust storms threaten to destroy everything – including her home and her marriage.
Can Emily overcome her grief and let Dorothy heal her heart?
From the promise of Chicago in the 1920s to the harsh beauty of the Kansas prairie during the dust bowl of the 1930s, this is a story of family, duty and one woman’s journey of self-discovery.
'Swept me off my feet! A jewel of a novel – it simply sparkles' Evie Woods
‘A treat of a book, utterly transporting' Eve Chase
‘An imaginative tour-de-force! […] Gaynor takes an ingenious idea and transforms it into a book that will enchant readers everywhere’ Natasha Lester
‘Em and the Kansas prairies come alive in this utterly immersive, genuinely moving and beautifully written novel’ Catherine Ryan Howard
'A story as glimmering as the Emerald City and as hopeful as Dorothy herself, Hazel Gaynor's latest is an important and enchanting addition to the canon of Oz' Kristin Harmel
'What a sublime achievement! Before Dorothy is loaded with imagination…this epic novel will grip you from page one' Jennifer Ryan
'An epic tale, a triumph of imagination and beautifully written' Amanda Geard
'Like Dorothy stepping into Oz, Hazel Gaynor’s new novel pulls Auntie Em out of a black and white background and into a full-color world all her own' Sarah Miller
'A brilliant idea, superbly executed…Auntie Em and Dorothy are brought fully to life in this memorable tale of hardship and love in America’s dust bowl' Maggie Brookes
'Heartbreaking and uplifting at the same time, this is my favourite Hazel Gaynor novel to date, and I've read them all. Loved it!' Gill Paul
'Exquisitely written […] the themes of home, family and belonging are acutely and tenderly observed […] an absolute triumph and in contention for my book of 2025!' Louise Fein
'It is impossible not to become lost in this tender, heartbreaking reimagining of the story of Auntie Em…a beautiful book' Julia Kelly
'I was so intrigued by the brilliant premise of Before Dorothy, and the story I found waiting blew me away…A truly wondrous tale' Jenny Ashcroft
'Captivating, luminous, spell-binding' Fiona Valpy
'Clever, original, and immersive' Carmel Harrington
'Just wonderful – warm and immersive like all Hazel's books and with that easy-to-read quality that draws you right in' Tracy Rees
'Lush, immersive, spellbinding' Kate Thompson
Hazel Gaynor is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of A Memory of Violets and The Girl Who Came Home, for which she received the 2015 RNA Historical Novel of the Year award. Her third novel, The Girl from the Savoy, was an Irish Times and Globe & Mail Canada bestseller, and was shortlisted for the BGE Irish Book Awards Popular Fiction Book of the Year. In 2017, she has published The Cottingley Secret and Last Christmas in Paris. Hazel was selected by US Library Journal as one of 'Ten Big Breakout Authors' for 2015 and her work has been translated into several languages. Hazel lives in Ireland with her husband and two children.
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