In this captivating New York Times bestseller, beloved author Gregory Maguire returns to the land of Oz and introduces us to Liir, an adolescent boy last seen hiding in the shadows of the castle after Dorothy did in the Witch. Is he really Elphaba's son? He has her broom and her cape-but what of her powers? In an Oz that, since the Wizard's departure, is under new and dangerous management, can Liir keep his head down long enough to grow up?

As civil war looms in Oz, Brrr, once a lion cub rescued by Elphaba, now a spy for the emperor, attempts to get vital information out of the dying oracle Yackle, only to learn important truths about his own mysterious past.