Wicked by Gregory Maguire (1996, Paperback, Reprint)

While very clever this book is incredibly wordy and dense. I read the book prior to seeing the play. The very accessible play became an epiphany to the extremely clever interweaving of characters from the original and this Wicked Witch- perspective. Maguire's amazing guides to the genesis of The Scarecrow, The Tinman and The Cowardly Lion are just wonderful. The sensitive way in which we come to understand Elphaba's "evil" nature and the ill-fated, beautiful friendship between Elphaba and Glinda (The Good Witch of the North) are great. I just found it so hard to get this from the book!