The global bestseller that inspired the hit musical phenomenon. Now two major movies and a record-breaking box office sensation. In this classic tale of good and evil, what if we weren't told the whole story? Long before Dorothy follows the yellow brick road and triumphs over the Wicked Witch of the West, a little girl with emerald-green skin is born in the land of Oz.

Elphaba grows up to be smart and prickly, a lonely outsider with an extraordinary talent for magic. Arriving at university, she dares to believe she might finally fit in. But Oz isn't the haven she'd dreamed of.

Some of its citizens are in grave danger, and Elphaba is determined to protect them from the Wizard's power. And when the world declares her a wicked witch, Elphaba takes matters into her own hands... This is the original novel by Gregory Maguire, first published in 1995.