Published in 2025
367 pages
Hazel Gaynor is an award-winning, New York Times, USA Today, Irish Times and internationally bestselling author known for her deeply moving historical novels which explore the defining events of the 20th century. A debut author recipient of the 2015 RNA Historical Novel of the Year award, her work has since been shortlisted for the 2019 HWA Gold Crown Award, the 2020 RNA Awards, and the Irish Book Awards in 2017, 2020 and 2023. Her work has been translated into twenty languages and published in twenty-seven territories to date. She lives in Ireland with her family.
What is this book about?
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.
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?
