The Fairytale Life of Dorothy Gale by Virginia Kantra (Review by Stacie Kitchen)

Rating: 3.5/5

I absolutely loved The Wizard of Oz as a child, so I was super stoked by this modern retelling of this classic. The Fairytale Life of Dorothy Gale has more of a connection to the original story in terms of tone versus in terms of characters. While the main character is Dorothy and she leaves Kansas to move to Ireland to find herself, the rest of the characters are not super related to The Wizard of Oz. Instead of finding a scarecrow, tin man, and lion to help her on her journey, Dorothy (Dee) does find a great collection of friends to help her uncover her true identify and release the demons of her past.

As a student in Kansas, Dorothy is taken advantage of by a professor who turns their affair into a book. Looking to flee the success of this novel, Dorothy decides to finish her dissertation in Ireland. She wants nothing more than to be a writer but is having trouble finding her own voice. Dorothy has spent most of her childhood looking after her younger sister after his mother’s death, so her life and decisions have not really been left up to her.

Dorothy meets a great friend in Reeti during her time in Ireland. Reeti is a great support and helps Dorothy navigate her troubles at Trinity University with her “wicked witch” professors and her budding romances with Reeti’s neighbor, Tim, and the tea/bakery shop owner Sam. Everyone in this story is facing their own battles and they work together to solve their problems. 

I did find the cover art to be a little misleading in the tone of the book. The bright happy colors led me to believe this would be a happy romcom style book, but it was a deeper, darker novel than that. Lots of past demons for each of the characters to fight, and a lot of emotions to unravel. It was a great women’s fiction read for those trying to find their own voice and move on from past traumatic events. Would make a great book club read!