‘Before Dorothy’ fills in the missing backstory of Auntie Em and Dorothy

In her new historical novel — her 12th one in 12 years — Hazel Gaynor is pulling back the curtain to provide what she calls “a reimagining” of a fictional character who is very familiar yet remains somewhat of a mystery.

Gaynor’s book “Before Dorothy,” which was released June 17, provides a backstory for not only Auntie Em from “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” but also Dorothy and how they ended up in Kansas. While L. Frank Baum didn’t give any details on Em and Dorothy’s background before the events he wrote about in his book first published in 1900, his short description of Em in the opening chapters piqued Gaynor’s interest.

“In the opening chapters, he describes Emily as having been a young, pretty wife when she first came to the prairie, and things had changed and taken the color from her eyes, and she didn’t smile now, so I was just intrigued as to what had happened,” Gaynor said.

Gaynor, who has professed being “drawn to epic stories of survival” and calls historical research “my jam,” couldn’t resist setting a book in Kansas during the 1930s Dust Bowl, when a severe drought in the Great Plains created an ecological and economic disaster.

For her whirlwind book tour for “Before Dorothy,” Gaynor insisted on making a stop in Kansas. Gaynor will be at Watermark Books in Wichita from 6 to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, June 24. Wichita-based author Jillian Forsberg, who writes primarily animal-based historical fiction, will lead the conversation with Gaynor. The free event will be held in the bookstore’s lower-level Starry Night Room, accessible only by stairs. Because of limited seating, RSVPs are encouraged. Visit watermarkbooks.com to make a reservation.

It’ll be the Ireland-based Gaynor’s first visit to Kansas.

Gaynor grew up in East Riding in Yorkshire, England, where watching a broadcast of “The Wizard of Oz” movie was a Christmas Day tradition. She moved to Ireland in 2001, and in 2004 settled in Kilcullen, County Kildare, with her husband. She started her writing career when she lost her job as a business executive in 2009.

Gaynor actually started an Oz-inspired novel early in her writing career.

“I had started noodling around with ideas and one of those was a contemporary reimagining of ‘The Wizard of Oz’ set in Dublin. It was kind of a play on the Emerald City being on the Emerald Isle,” she said.

She abandoned the idea after writing about 15,000 words, setting it aside to work on “The Girl Who Came Home,” which was based on the true story of 14 Irish emigrants on the Titanic. She self-published it in digital format in 2012. When she inked a publishing deal with HarperCollins under the William Morrow imprint, the novel was republished in print.

Her debut novel ended up on the bestseller lists of the New York Times and USA Today.

She continued writing and publishing books, many rooted in actual events, and then also started a writing collaboration with American historical-fiction author Heather Webb. Their first book was “Last Christmas in Paris,” published in 2017. Their fourth co-written book, “Christmas with the Queen,” came out in late 2024.

In similar fashion to Dorothy’s persistence to find a way back home to Kansas, the idea of an Oz-inspired novel would come back around as Gaynor considered future topics.

“One day, I went for a walk, and Auntie Em’s name popped into my head. I’ve always said that ideas find the writer, rather than the other way around, and it’s whether you pay attention or not,” Gaynor said. “And I really paid attention. Those lines in Baum’s original book made me see a very different story that I could let my imagination wander amongst because there isn’t that much known about her or written about her, which is fantastic because there are lots of gaps for my imagination to fill in. So yeah, it took a long time for the right story to find me.”

In “Before Dorothy,” Emily’s family, including her beloved sister Annie, ends up in Chicago after leaving Ireland. In 1924, Emily is excited to join her new husband, Henry, in pursuit of setting up a farm in Kansas. Eight years later, Emily must return to Chicago to mourn the deaths of her sister and brother-in-law and take in her orphaned niece, Dorothy.

Gaynor’s book includes several Easter eggs that reference elements in Baum’s original book, like the origins of the lion and Tin Man, and even the concept of magic or wizardry.

Gaynor spent a great deal of time researching, reading and watching documentaries about immigrant prairie farmers and the Dust Bowl to ensure she captured not only the environmental havoc but also the personal hardships and farm abandonments that were prevalent during the disaster. Calling herself “a bit of a historical magpie,” Gaynor also consulted the Kansas Historical Society.

“Most people outside of the U.S. probably find the Dust Bowl through “The Grapes of Wrath,” John Steinbeck’s novel. I remembered the horror, the visceral struggle and the landscape from that book,” Gaynor said.

As she wrote, her playlist included the Dust Bowl and Depression-era ballads by folk musician Woody Guthrie, whose nickname was the Dust Bowl Troubadour.

Reviewers are calling “Before Dorothy” a powerful prequel with detailed descriptions. One reviewer compared it to another hugely successful Oz-inspired story.

“Bestselling author Hazel Gaynor does for Dorothy and her family what ‘Wicked’ did for The Wicked Witch of the West in this Depression-era origin story that peels back the intriguing layers of Auntie Em, the woman who raised Dorothy,” said Kristin Harmel, the New York Times bestselling author of “The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau.”

‘Before Dorothy’ author event with Hazel Gaynor

When: 6-7 p.m. Tuesday, June 24

Where: Watermark Books, 4701 E. Douglas Ave., in its lower-level Starry Night Room, which is accessible only by stairs.

Admission: Free, RSVP online due to limited seating

More info: 316-682-1181 or watermarkbooks.com/event/2025-06-24/store-author-event-hazel-gaynor