The greatest journey is the one you least expect…‘Swept me off my feet! A jewel of a novel – it simply sparkles’ Evie Woods

‘A treat of a book, utterly transporting’ Eve Chase

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Long before Dorothy visits Oz, her aunt, Emily Gale, sets off on her own unforgettable adventure much closer to home…

When news reaches Kansas that her beloved sister has tragically died, Emily Gale must become a mother overnight. Her sister’s orphaned child, Dorothy, desperately needs a home.

But Emily doubts her ability to fill her sister’s shoes; her life on the barren Kansas prairies is no place for a child.

On the unforgiving plains, Emily’s courage is endlessly tested. The prolonged drought and relentless dust storms threaten to destroy everything – including her home and her marriage.

Can Emily overcome her grief and let Dorothy heal her heart?

From the promise of Chicago in the 1920s to the harsh beauty of the Kansas prairie during the dust bowl of the 1930s, this is a story of family, duty and one woman’s journey of self-discovery.

Readers LOVE Before Dorothy

‘A story as glimmering as the Emerald City and as hopeful as Dorothy herself’ Kristin Harmel

‘[An] enchanting and powerful tale of grief, love and self-discovery’ Heat

‘Captivating, luminous, spell-binding’ Fiona Valpy

‘Heartbreaking and uplifting at the same time, this is my favourite Hazel Gaynor novel to date, and I’ve read them all. Loved it!’ Gill Paul

‘An epic tale, a triumph of imagination and beautifully written’ Amanda Geard

Author Biography

Hazel Gaynor is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of A Memory of Violets and The Girl Who Came Home, for which she received the 2015 RNA Historical Novel of the Year award. Her third novel, The Girl from the Savoy, was an Irish Times and Globe & Mail Canada bestseller, and was shortlisted for the BGE Irish Book Awards Popular Fiction Book of the Year. In 2017, she has published The Cottingley Secret and Last Christmas in Paris. Hazel was selected by US Library Journal as one of ‘Ten Big Breakout Authors’ for 2015 and her work has been translated into several languages. Hazel lives in Ireland with her husband and two children.