Book Review: Finding Dorothy

I thought I recognized Elizabeth Letts' name on the cover of this recent acquisition at our library. Two years ago, when I was at CBLI, I read her Quality of Care. I thoroughly enjoyed this romp in the world of Maud and Frank Baum (author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and other Oz books). The book alternates back and forth from Maud's life story to her encounters with Judy Garland during the filming of The Wizard of Oz movie.

At first, the movie bits felt intrusive to the much more interesting story of Maud's life story. I wished the author had written the book in a straight chronological order and even wondered if she should have left out the whole story line of Judy Garland. However, by the end of the book, I appreciated the structure the author used and came to understand her purpose. Indeed, Garland's role served as a pinnacle to the life events that led to the book and eventually fleshed out in the movie.

Maud Gage is the daughter of a tireless women's rights campaigner. Her mother keeps her older sister home because of a nervous condition. Maud senses the family's hopes center on her when she heads off to college. But she is not enthusiastic about a degree and ends up falling for a young actor named Frank Baum. Letts does a fine job of presenting the story of their courtship and marriage and paints a realistic picture of the challenges and difficulties of life in that time.

By the end of Finding Dorothy, I learned much about the author and his wife, the book's importance, and the struggles associated with filming the successful movie. This fictional tale, based on solid research, promises to take you (the reader) from your own Kansas, to that place "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." We all experience a sense of longing and books often take us into that anticipated realm. It left me grateful to Frank Baum for persisting through the tragedies and doing the work to offer the world the alternate land of Oz (a land of ooh's and ahh's).