Dorothy Gale, also known as Dee, was working on a graduate degree in a creative writing program in Kansas. An instructor there, Grayson Kettering, took her under his wing and as a lover. Two years later, when he published his best-selling novel, it was apparent that he'd used her as a much-ridiculed character in his book. The character's name in the book is Destiny Gale.
Fleeing the embarrassment, Dee goes back to the Kansas farm owned by her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry, in this re-imagined version of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. After regrouping, and also establishing her younger sister at college, she goes to Trinity College at Dublin to work on her degree there. Her enthusiasm and earnestness help her meet a variety of people, making new friendships that are almost too good to be true. Her biggest problem is in working with the professors in the writing program. She tries to hide the fact that she's the Destiny Gale in Kettering's book. She's also trying to figure out what home is to her: as a child, her mother would leave her and her little sister at the homes of various people while working on grandiose art installations around the world. After their mother died in a weird accident, they went to live on the farm in Kansas, with Dee never feeling that they were really wanted there.
A lot of relationships are examined, not just those of Dee and her little sister Toni, but of people in Dublin, too, including Dee's new friend Reeti and two rather different men, Sam (a sexy guy who runs a news-agents shop) and Tim (a serious guy who's working full time but also getting a business degree at Trinity). These are just some of the great characters in this multifaceted novel, which works so well.
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