The Unknown Witches of Oz The Unknown Witches of Oz The Unknown Witches of Oz: Locasta and the Three Adepts is a 2000 novel written by Dave Hardenbrook, with illustrations by Kerry Rouleau. As its title indicates, the book is an entry in the long-running series of books about the Land of Oz, written by L. Frank Baum and his successors. The publication of "The Unknown Witches of Oz" was timed to coincide with the centennial of the original Oz book, "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" (as was also true of Gina Wickwar's "The Hidden Prince of Oz" and Edward Einhorns's "Paradox in Oz"). Hardenbrook's
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz for the fact that the West was still undeveloped at the time. The Munchkins Dorothy encounters at the beginning of the novel represent farmers, as do the Winkies she later meets. Baum's wife frequently visited her niece, Dorothy Louise Gage. The infant became gravely sick and died on November 11, 1898, from "congestion of the brain" at exactly five months. When the baby, whom Maud adored as the daughter she never had, died, she was devastated and needed to consume medicine. To assuage her distress, Frank made his protagonist of "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" a female named Dorothy. Uncle