“The real thing about evil," said the Witch at the doorway, "isn't any of what you said. You figure out one side of it - the human side, say - and the eternal side goes into shadow. Or vice versa. It's like the old saw: What does a dragon in its shell look like? Well no one can ever tell, for as soon as you break the shell to see, the dragon is no longer in its shell. The real disaster of this inquiry is that it is the nature of evil to be secret.”

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.