Hiddensee, Gregory Maguire
Hiddensee, Gregory Maguire
4 Rating(s)
List: $24.99
On Sale: $6.99

Hiddensee
A Tale of the Once and Future Nutcracker

Author: Gregory Maguire

Narrator: Steven Crossley

Unabridged: 10 hr 4 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: HarperAudio

Published: 10/31/2017


Synopsis

In this imaginative novel rooted in the rich soil of early-nineteenth-century German Romanticism, beloved New York Times bestselling author Gregory Maguire twins an origin legend of the famous Nutcracker with the life of Drosselmeier, the toymaker who carves him.Gregory Maguire’s novels have been called ""bewitching,"" ""remarkable,"" ""extraordinary,"" ""engrossing,"" ""amazing,"" and ""delicious."" Having brought his legions of devoted readers to Oz in Wicked, Wonderland in After Alice and Dickensian London in Lost, Maguire now takes us to the Black Forest of Bavaria and Munich of the Brothers Grimm and E. T. A. Hoffman. Hiddensee recreates the backstory of the Nutcracker, reimaging how this entrancing creature came to be carved and how it magically guided an ailing little girl named Klara through a dreamy paradise on a snowy Christmas Eve. It also brings to life the mysterious godfather Drosselmeier—the ominous, canny, one-eyed toymaker made immortal by Petipa and Tchaikovsky’s ballet—who presents the once and future Nutcracker to Klara, his goddaughter.But Hiddensee is not just a retelling of a classic story. Maguire discovers in the flowering of German Romanticism a migrating strain of a Hellenic mystery-cult, and ponders a profound question: how a person who is abused by life, short-changed and challenged, can access secrets that benefit the disadvantaged and powerless. Ultimately, Hiddensee, offers a message of hope. If the compromised Godfather Drosselmeier can bring an enchanted Nutcracker to a young girl in distress, perhaps everyone, however lonely or marginalized on the eve of a winter holiday, has something precious to share.

About Gregory Maguire

Gregory Maguire is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Wicked Years, a series that includes Wicked—the beloved classic that is the basis for the blockbuster Tony Award–winning Broadway musical of the same name and the major motion picture—Son of a Witch, A Lion Among Men, and Out of Oz. His series Another Day continues the story of Oz with The Brides of Maracoor, The Oracle of Maracoor, and The Witch of Maracoor, and his other novels include A Wild Winter Swan, Hiddensee, After Alice, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, Lost, and Mirror Mirror. Some of his novels for children include Cress Watercress, Leaping Beauty, and Egg & Spoon, winner of a Boston Globe–Horn Book Award Honor. He lives in New England and France.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Celeste on March 15, 2018

Rating: 2.5/5 stars I picked up this book because I was looking for a retelling of the Nutcracker to get me in the Christmas spirit. I should’ve known better than to trust Maguire to instill holiday cheer into anything he writes. I was definitely not filled with cheer and goodwill while reading this,......more

Goodreads review by Erin on December 02, 2017

Hiddensee by Gregory Maguire tells the story of Drosselmeier, the man responsible for creating the Nutcracker, as well as how he came to give it to young Klara. Full of Maguire’s typical prose and poetic language, Drosselmeier starts as a young boy living with Hansel and Gretel in the woods. When a......more

Goodreads review by Magrat on April 22, 2018

3,5/5 Muy al estilo de 'Wicked', aquí Maguire selecciona al juguetero del cuento de 'El cascanueces y el rey de los ratones' como el protagonista de su novela. Es un retelling muy particular, como ya lo fue 'Wicked' en el que los elementos del cuento son más bien píldoras que hay que saber encontrar,......more

Goodreads review by Debra on November 18, 2017

The walnut, opened. I was intrigued by the gentle telling of this story, but the truth is, I didn't realize I had loved it until the very end.......more

Goodreads review by Kit (Metaphors and Moonlight) on December 10, 2019

3.5 Stars Review: It took a while for me to get into this book, but I enjoyed it in the end. It was an interesting take on the background of the The Nutcracker and the life of the mysterious toymaker Drosselmeier. What made this book hard for me to get into was how meandering it was. It really was the......more