The Fairytale Life of Dorothy Gale

The Fairytale Life of Dorothy Gale by Virginia Kantra wasn’t on my radar, but when I was invited to review it, its synopsis captured my heart. It’s set in Ireland at Trinity College Dublin, where the main character is pursuing a master’s degree. Well, my sister earned her master’s from Trinity and is still living in Ireland to this day, so that made it special for me as a proud older sister! This book is also a retelling of The Wizard of Oz; I’d never read a retelling of this classic, so I was extra intrigued. I’m so glad I took a chance on this book, because it was absolutely charming.

Special thanks to the publicists at Penguin Random House and to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book!

Summary

Dorothy “Dee” Gale is leaving Kansas after a bad breakup and awkward scandal related to the book her ex wrote about her. Hoping to finally finish her master’s degree in English, she transfers to Trinity College Dublin all the way in Ireland. While there, Dee meets some key friends along the way: Sam, who gave up on his own college dreams after his dad died nine years ago; Tim, whose experience fighting in Iraq and a subsequent breakup left him feeling emotionally numb; and Reeti, about to finish her degree but afraid to tell her Sikh parents about her true career dreams. Meanwhile, Dee is grappling with her own personal issues, from her absentee mother who died many years ago to the younger sister that Dee has had to take care of ever since. Dee is also trying to find her voice as a writer, but she’s full of self-doubt, especially after the emotional abuse of her ex-boyfriend. Over the course of one year, Dee will find her way to her true self, helping others and even finding love along the way.

Review

The Fairytale Life of Dorothy Gale is the first Wizard of Oz retelling I’ve ever read, and I loved seeing these new, contemporary characters and figuring out which Oz character they correspond to. If you’ve seen the movie (as I have) or even read the books (alas, I have not), it’s usually immediately clear who each character represents in this novel. But I also love that, instead of leaving Kansas for a fantasy realm, our Dorothy goes to Ireland, the Emerald Isle rather than the Emerald City.

Dee Gale is a compelling protagonist, full of different nuances and positive attributes and things she could work on, and it makes her feel real. She’s running away from what readers can probably tell was a really toxic relationship… even if Dee still doesn’t totally see it that way. Grayson Kettering is terrible, and seeing what Dee went through, what inspired her move across the Atlantic, is something straight out of #MeToo. But Dee has some growing to do before she can finally move on from that tragic relationship.

One of my favorite aspects of The Fairytale Life of Dorothy Gale is how much Dee is always thinking about her own creative writing. She’s at Trinity to earn her master’s and finally finish her novel, with classmates and mentors to help along the way. I enjoyed the discussions around auto-fiction, confidence, the difficulty of receiving feedback on your work, and developing the characters and plot, sometimes even putting them into a new genre altogether. Dee has some wonderful conversations with her friend Sam, himself a writer, though he’s given up on his own ambitions in the past decade.

Speaking of, the supporting cast here is wonderful. While most of the chapters are from Dee’s first-person perspective, we also get third-person chapters from both Sam and Tim. (Reeti and Toni don’t get their own chapters.) These extra insights add new dimensions to the novel and make it fuller. Sam is our Scarecrow, a man who is smart and talented but has deluded himself into thinking he can’t aim for more. Our Tin Man is named Tim, a man with scars (both physical and emotional) from fighting in the war. And Reeti is the Cowardly Lion, with fears of telling her Sikh parents about her true career goals after finishing her degree. Dee’s younger sister is Toni (nickname: Toto), 18 years old and ready to take a very different path than what overprotective Dee wants for her. I loved all of these characters, but my favorite was Tim. This man bakes! All of the treats he made throughout the novel—Chelsea buns, lavender scones, chocolate chip cookies, muffins—made me hungry! Dee would be a fool to give him up!

Some character and plot arcs were surprising to me, especially the one involving Glenda Norton. But I loved how the author brought everyone to life, constructing a world that is vivid and full of rich emotional depth. These aren’t flat characters or direct throw-ins from The Wizard of Oz. Rather, they all stand on the own and make for an inspired, thoughtful, heartfelt novel.

Final Thoughts

The Fairytale Life of Dorothy Gale is the contemporary Wizard of Oz retelling I never knew I needed. I loved the setting in Dublin, all of the characters, and the numerous themes that are explored throughout. It’s a work of women’s fiction with some healthy doses of romance, and I adored every bit of it.

Get the Book

You can buy The Fairytale Life of Dorothy Gale here – it’s available as a paperback, ebook, and audiobook.

The Fairytale Life of Dorothy Gale by Virginia Kantra
Audience	Adult
Genre	Women’s Fiction; Romance
Setting	Dublin, Ireland
Number of Pages	384
Format I Read	Ebook (NetGalley ARC)
Original Publication Date	December 5, 2023

Official Summary

A woman learns to follow her own road in this heartwarming novel inspired by The Wizard of Oz by New York Times bestselling author Virginia Kantra.

Dorothy “Dee” Gale is searching for a place to belong. After their globe-trotting mother’s death, Dee and her sister Toni settled with Uncle Henry and Aunt Em in Kansas, where Dee attends graduate school. But when Dee’s relationship with a faculty member, a bestselling novelist, ends in heartbreak and humiliation, she’s caught in a tornado of negative publicity. Unable to face her colleagues—or her former lover—Dee applies to the writing program at Trinity College Dublin.

Dee’s journey to Ireland leads her to new companions: seemingly brainless Sam Clery—who dropped out of college and now runs a newsagent’s shop—is charming and hot, in a dissolute, Irish poet kind of way; allegedly heartless Tim Woodman—who stiffly refused to take back his ex-fiancée—seems stuck in his past; and fiercely loyal Reeti Kaur, who longs for the courage to tell her parents she wants to teach underprivileged girls rather than work in the family business.

In a year of opportunities and changes, love and loss, Dee is mentored by powerful women in the writing program, challenging her to see herself and her work with new eyes. With her friends, Dee finds the confidence to confront her biggest fears—including her intimidating graduate advisor, who may not be so wicked after all.

Faced with a choice with far-reaching consequences, Dee must apply the lessons she’s learned along the way about making a family, finding a home…and recognizing the power that’s been inside her all along.

Excerpt from The Fairytale Life of Dorothy Gale

“I told you you’d need a drink by the time The Ward was through with you,” Reeti said. “How bad was it?”

The pub was packed with people off from work or out to dinner, the air thick with the smell of grease and beer. The cheerful noise of music and conversation wrapped our table in a bubble of privacy.

“Bad.” I took a sip of Guinness. The chosen drink of Ireland puckered my mouth. Like I’d made a mistake in ordering it. In being here at all. “She had his book. Grayson Kettering’s. She showed it to me.”

“What book?”

“Destiny Gayle.”

“So?”

Maybe I should pretend that everything was okay. That I was okay. I didn’t want to watch the sympathy fade from Reeti’s face, replaced by contempt. I wasn’t running away, I told myself. I hadn’t slunk off to my hotel room to lick my wounds and search the Internet for scraps about Gray’s bestseller rank and upcoming movie. I was out for dinner in a real Irish pub, drinking a real Irish Guinness. Trying new things. Making a new friend. Take that, Dr. Ward.

Except . . . A clean slate.

A fresh start.

Weren’t friends supposed to tell each other things?

Another bitter swallow. “That’s my name. I’m Dee Gale.”

Reeti’s brow furrowed. “I don’t understand. I mean, the name . . . That’s a weird coincidence, sure. But Grayson Kettering . . . He’s kind of a big deal, isn’t he? I mean, it’s not like he wrote a book about you.”

“Actually . . .” I rubbed the wet ring from my glass on the tabletop. Forced myself to go on. The worst that could happen . . . It had already happened, right? What did I have to lose by being honest? Other than Reeti’s respect. “He did. At least . . . He based her on me. His character, Destiny. We . . . We knew each other at the University of Kansas.”

“Wow.” Reeti sat back. “So you’re, like, famous.”

I grimaced into my glass, afraid to look at her. “Me and Hester Prynne.”

She laughed. “It can’t be that bad.”

“Have you read it? The book?”

“Not yet.”

“It’s sort of a Pygmalion story.” That’s how Gray had described it whenever I asked him what he was working on. “An engrossing—if occasionally sordid—exploration of creativity and obsession,” according to the Times review. “About a young female graduate student who moves in with a professor in her writing program and basically ruins his life until he escapes her sexual thrall.”

“Whoa.” Her eyes narrowed. “Wait. You lived with him?”

I lowered my gaze. “Not me. Destiny. In the book.” Gray had always been protective of his privacy. Careful about appearances.

Toni knew there was someone. She’d even met Gray when she came to visit me on campus. Aunt Em suspected we were involved. But I’d never told anyone how serious we had been. I had been.

“He gave me a key,” I said.

So I could pick up his dry cleaning and drop off his groceries and water his plants. And every time I’d let myself into his house, I’d felt a little thrill that he trusted me in his space. Another bitter swallow.

“Fucker.”

I looked up, shocked and warmed by her immediate defense.

“He was your professor,” she said. “You should have reported him to your university.”

“I wasn’t in any of his classes.” He’d been careful about that, too, I realized. “Anyway, I loved him. We were together for two years.”

“Loved,” Reeti repeated. “Past tense?”

“Y-y-yes.” Anything else would be too pathetic.

And yet whatever I told Reeti or myself, there was a part of me that still needed to get over him. At least in Ireland I wouldn’t be confronted by reminders of him everywhere. The sound of his laugh down the hall from the office I shared with four other graduate students. The way he’d catch my eye across the table at departmental meetings. His books on my shelf. His sweater in my closet. A menu from his favorite takeout place at the back of my kitchen drawer.

“So, did you tell The Ward?”

I dragged my attention back to Reeti. “She already knows. I mean, obviously she read the book.”

“His book. She only knows his side of the story.”

I managed a smile. “Are you saying I should put Gray in a book?”

Reeti nodded. “And then kill him.”

Excerpted from The Fairytale Life of Dorothy Gale by Virginia Kantra Copyright © 2023 by Virginia Kantra. 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.

About the Author

Credit: Michael Ritchey

New York Times bestselling author Virginia Kantra’s lifelong love of stories led her to write over thirty novels about strong women, messy families, and the journey to find yourself. Her books, including Meg & Jo and Beth & Amy, contemporary retellings of Little Women, have received numerous awards as well as starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist and praise in People and USA Today.

Virginia is married to her college sweetheart, who keeps her supplied with ideas, caffeine and cocktails. They make their home in North Carolina, where they raised three amazing children. Like the witches of Oz, Virginia believes firmly in finding the power that was inside you all along.