RIP Madeleine L'Engle 1918-2007

[intertext]

Please read curtana's beautiful post, though it may make you cry, as it did me.

I loved Madeleine L'Engle's work. Strangely, the novels of hers I loved best were not the fantasy series, beginning with A Wrinkle in Time, though that was the first of her books I read and of course the most famous. I thought her best books were the ones in a series of vaguely mystery suspense stories, starting with The Young Unicorns, and continuing through The Arm of the Starfish and Dragons in the Waters. Who can forget Canon Tallis, a marvellous character?

And A Ring of Endless Light is probably her best book of all. It's a lovely novel, less well known than it should be.

Her work was always thoughtful and filled with light. Her death is a sadness, but we have a great legacy in her books.

Comments

[noveldevice.livejournal.com]

I too am sad. I still remember the first time I read A Ring of Endless Light. I got it from the library in that edition with the cover art that had Vicky and the dolphin in a ring bisecting the horizon line of sky and sea. It had a good weight, and the comforting smell of eighties library paper. I knew before I opened it that I would love it.

The religious sensibility that permeated her books--of a sort I don't share--turned me off sometimes, but for the most part, she never let her faith get in the way of a good story. Sort of like the anti-CS Lewis.

[intertext.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean about the religious sensibility. I think that's why I wasn't as fond of the fantasy novels, where it was more overt, and grew more so as the series continued. Somehow the suspense books, even with a Canon as a main character, were more about values of a general kind than specific Biblical religion.