“She had that look a child has only a few times in its life, when the child has bettered her betters. The expression isn't smug, though adults often take it for smugness. It's something else. Maybe relief at having confirmed through personal experience the long-held suspicion of our species, that the enchanted world of childhood is merely a mask for something else, a more subtle and paradoxical magic.- p. 157”

American novelist

Gregory Maguire is an American novelist, known for Wicked, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, and many other books for adults and children. His work is closely associated with retellings and reimaginings of familiar stories. He published his first novel, The Lightning Time, in 1978. Wicked, published in 1995, was his first novel for adults and later became the basis for a popular Broadway musical in 2003, which was then adapted into a two-part musical film series.