This may have been one of the best books I have read all year! I was so disappointed when it ended. I became so involved in the characters and their story. A feel good book with a reality check on how far women have come.

What a wonderful book! At its simplest “Finding Dorthy” is the story of Maud Baum, the wife of the author of the Wizard of Oz, and her commitment to making certain the film version is authentic and honors the spirit of her husband. It weaves together the story of the making of the film with the life of Maud and L. Frank Baum. The book creates a picture of L. Frank Baum that is tender and somewhat lost. A man with vision but with little to back his vision, who repeatedly faces failure and disaster but refuses to be destroyed by them. It is his vision, failures, and disasters that are central to the story and to creating the magic of the Wizard of Oz. It is what Maud Baum insists must be captured in the film. Maud’s concern for the authenticity of the film runs deep and encompasses her care and concern for the character of Dorthy and the actress, Judy Garland who plays Dorthy. The book shows us a glimpse behind the curtain of the making of the film not unlike the glimpse we get of the Wizard of Oz when his curtain is drawn back at the end of the film. And while neither glimpse shows the magic they would like us to believe in, it is in a way its own magic. That is the magic that is created not of whimsy and fantasy but rather a magic created by holding on to beauty, love, and goodness throughout a journey that is made of hardship, sadness, and loss. This is where true magic is created. And this is the magic of Baum's’ Wizard of Oz as well as the magic that we experience and come to understand in "Finding Dorthy”. I was privileged to receive a free copy of this book from NetGalley and the Publisher Random House, Ballantine Books in exchange for an honest review.