Farewell, Madeleine L’Engle

[Shrain]

PW DAILY: Madeleine L’Engle, author of more than 60 books for adults and children, including A Wrinkle in Time and its sequels, passed away on September 6, at the age of 88. Here some of those who worked with her and were close with her pay tribute.

Margaret Ferguson
Madeleine was published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux for 45 years. She received more fan mail than any of our other authors, and what was interesting about it was that the letters weren’t just from children, but also from adults—adults who read her books as a child and then moved on to read her books written for adults. These lifelong fans essentially grew up with her books and now pass them on to their children and grandchildren and begin the cycle again. Obviously Madeleine’s writing spoke to people of all ages.

Madeleine enjoyed having lunch at the Terrace and would begin with a Bloody Mary. We would sit near a window with an amazing view of the Upper West Side and have a wonderful time, mostly because she always had a good joke and was such an entertaining storyteller. She was a very loving person—accepting and open to different kinds of people and experiences. Above all, though, Madeleine was kind. She always remembered to follow up on some detail about my life, which was amazing considering how large her “extended” family was. She was exactly who she seemed to be in person and in her writing. We will all miss her.

Sandra Jordan
I edited two of Madeleine’s books—A Swiftly Tilting Planet and A Ring of Endless Light. As the books progressed I’d be invited to spend the weekend with Madeleine and Hugh at Crosswicks, their pre-Revolutionary War house in Goshen, Connecticut. We’d work in her “tower,” a book-filled study, up a narrow back hall staircase, until she decided “we need some fresh air.”
The back hall coat rack offered a battered selection of hats, scarves, and coats, and the two of us, bundled up like Mrs. Whatsit and Mrs. Who, set out across the fields behind the house. She carried giant pruning shears to attack encroaching bittersweet vines and she’d gesture with them as we passed the property’s familiar literary landmarks—the twins’ vegetable garden where Charles Wallace met the dragon, the stone wall where the snake Louise the Larger lived, Meg’s star-watching rock—all of which figured in her books. We’d rattle on about pre-Roman English history, our families, 17th-century poetry, the Old Testament, and what makes bad boys irresistible. It felt like a break from working, but when the next draft arrived I’d see that she’d also been trying out new material. Like the good cook she also proved to be on those weekends, she wasted nothing, everything went into the pot. I feel lucky to have worked with her, lucky to have known her.   

Wow.  I just saw this. Had no idea she passed away last week. Just today, I finished re-reading one of my favorite YA novels, A Wrinkle in Time. I think I started it on the 6th. How strange is that?

Farewell, Madeleine L'Engle. You've left quite the legacy!

[Sigyn]

She wrote some amazing stuff like Wrinkle in Time and A Wind in the Door, but she also wrote some pretty blah stuff.  I can't remember the title, but I remember one book she wrote about a girl going to private school in Switzerland and the teachers think she's homosexual.  That book really didn't have a point.

[Fellfrosch]

In my opinion, very few of her books had much of a point--I recently re-read the Wrinkle in Time series, and while the first one stands up the others are just silly.

Still, though, I've heard her speak, and I loved her books as a kid, and she was a great person. She'll be missed.