Madeleine L'Engle
AUTHOR

Madeleine L'Engle

Teens | Religion & Spirituality | Kids

Madeleine was born on November 29th, 1918, and spent her formative years in New York City. Instead of her school work, she found that she would much rather be writing stories, poems and journals for herself, which was reflected in her grades (not the best). However, she was not discouraged.

At age 12, she moved to the French Alps with her parents and went to an English boarding school where, thankfully, her passion for writing continued to grow. She flourished during her high school years back in the United States at Ashley Hall in Charleston, South Carolina, vacationing with her mother in a rambling old beach cottage on a beautiful stretch of Florida Beach.

She went to Smith College and studied English with some wonderful teachers as she read the classics and continued her own creative writing. She graduated with honors and moved into a Greenwich Village apartment in New York. She worked in the theater, where Equity union pay and a flexible schedule afforded her the time to write! She published her first two novels during these years--A Small Rain and Ilsa--before meeting Hugh Franklin, her future husband, when she was an understudy in Anton Chekov's The Cherry Orchard. They married during The Joyous Season.

She had a baby girl and kept on writing, eventually moving to Connecticut to raise the family away from the city in a small dairy farm village with more cows than people. They bought a dead general store, and brought it to life for 9 years. They moved back to the city with three children, and Hugh revitalized his professional acting career.

As the years passed and the children grew, Madeleine continued to write and Hugh to act, and they to enjoy each other and life. Madeleine began her association with the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, where she was the librarian and maintained an office for more than thirty years. After Hugh's death in 1986, it was her writing and lecturing that kept her going. She lived through the 20th century and into the 21st and wrote over 60 books. She enjoyed being with her friends, her children, her grandchildren, and her great grandchildren.

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Best Sellers

    • A Wrinkle in Time

    • By: Madeleine L'Engle
    • Narrated by: Hope Davis, Ava DuVernay, Madeleine L'Engle, and others
    • Length: 6 hrs and 27 mins
    • Unabridged
    • Overall
      4.5 out of 5 stars 15,947
    • Performance
      4.5 out of 5 stars 14,239
    • Story
      4.5 out of 5 stars 14,244

    Meg Murry, her little brother Charles Wallace, and their mother are having a midnight snack on a dark and stormy night when an unearthly stranger appears at their door....

    • 5 out of 5 stars

    • Thank You for a New Narrator

    • By Patricia on 02-01-12

    Regular price: $17.50

    Free with 30-day Trial

    • A Wind in the Door

    • By: Madeleine L'Engle
    • Narrated by: Jennifer Ehle
    • Length: 5 hrs and 27 mins
    • Unabridged
    • Overall
      4.5 out of 5 stars 1,451
    • Performance
      4.5 out of 5 stars 1,278
    • Story
      4.5 out of 5 stars 1,286

    Meg Murry can't help but be worried when her six-year-old brother, Charles Wallace, announces there are dragons in the vegetable garden....

    • 5 out of 5 stars

    • by Julian, 8 years old

    • By film karma on 04-09-12

    Regular price: $25.20

    Free with 30-day Trial

    • A Swiftly Tilting Planet

    • By: Madeleine L'Engle
    • Narrated by: Jennifer Ehle
    • Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins
    • Unabridged
    • Overall
      4.5 out of 5 stars 806
    • Performance
      4.5 out of 5 stars 721
    • Story
      4.5 out of 5 stars 720

    Fifteen-year-old Charles Wallace and the unicorn Gaudior undertake a perilous journey through time in a desperate attempt to stop the destruction of the world by the mad dictator Madog Branzillo....

    • 5 out of 5 stars

    • Re-experience the magic

    • By Denise Swift on 03-20-12

    Regular price: $25.20

    Free with 30-day Trial

    • Many Waters

    • By: Madeleine L'Engle
    • Narrated by: Ann Marie Lee
    • Length: 8 hrs and 55 mins
    • Unabridged
    • Overall
      4.5 out of 5 stars 473
    • Performance
      4.5 out of 5 stars 419
    • Story
      4.5 out of 5 stars 422

    A touch of computer keys, a blast of heat, and suddenly the Murry twins, Sandy and Dennys, are gasping in a shimmering desert land....

    • 4 out of 5 stars

    • Loved the book, not the narrator

    • By Mhlia on 04-26-12

    Regular price: $25.90

    Free with 30-day Trial

    • An Acceptable Time

    • By: Madeleine L'Engle
    • Narrated by: Ann Marie Lee
    • Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins
    • Unabridged
    • Overall
      4.5 out of 5 stars 310
    • Performance
      4.5 out of 5 stars 268
    • Story
      4.5 out of 5 stars 269

    A flash of lightning, quivering ground, and, instead of her grandparents' farm, Polly sees mist and jagged mountains - and, coming toward her, a group of young men carrying spears....

    • 5 out of 5 stars

    • Not Jest for kids. Very deep for knowing adults.

    • By Mary on 06-21-16

    Regular price: $31.93

    Free with 30-day Trial

    • The Small Rain: A Novel

    • Katherine Forrester Vigneras Series, Book 1
    • By: Madeleine L'Engle
    • Narrated by: Kathleen Gati
    • Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
    • Unabridged
    • Overall
      5 out of 5 stars 8
    • Performance
      4.5 out of 5 stars 7
    • Story
      4.5 out of 5 stars 7

    At only ten years old, Katherine Forrester has already experienced her fair share of upheaval. It has been three years since she last saw her mother, a concert pianist whose career was cut short by a terrible accident....

    Regular price: $29.99

    Free with 30-day Trial

    • Walking on Water

    • Reflections on Faith and Art
    • By: Madeleine L'Engle
    • Narrated by: Pamela Almand
    • Length: 6 hrs and 28 mins
    • Unabridged
    • Overall
      5 out of 5 stars 22
    • Performance
      4.5 out of 5 stars 21
    • Story
      5 out of 5 stars 21

    In this classic book, L’Engle addresses the questions, What makes art Christian? What does it mean to be a Christian artist? What is the relationship between faith and art? Find out....

    • 5 out of 5 stars

    • great listen

    • By carolyn on 05-17-18

    Regular price: $20.99

    Free with 30-day Trial

    • The Arm of the Starfish

    • By: Madeleine L'Engle
    • Narrated by: Michael Crouch
    • Length: 7 hrs and 38 mins
    • Unabridged
    • Overall
      4.5 out of 5 stars 80
    • Performance
      4.5 out of 5 stars 73
    • Story
      4.5 out of 5 stars 73

    Caught between Kali's seductive wiles and the trusting adoration of Dr. O'Keefe's daughter, Poly, Adam finds himself enmeshed in a deadly power struggle between two groups of people....

    • 4 out of 5 stars

    • L'Engle's young adult spy thriller

    • By Adam Shields on 09-19-17

    Regular price: $35.00

    Free with 30-day Trial

    • A Stone for a Pillow

    • Journeys with Jacob
    • By: Madeleine L'Engle, Rachel Held Evans - Foreword
    • Narrated by: Pamela Almand
    • Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins
    • Unabridged
    • Overall
      5 out of 5 stars 6
    • Performance
      5 out of 5 stars 6
    • Story
      5 out of 5 stars 6

    This classic work of spirituality from the author of A Wrinkle in Time offers life-transforming insights on the rich heritage of the Bible and shows how the characters of this ancient text are relevant for living the good life now....

    Regular price: $20.99

    Free with 30-day Trial

    • And It Was Good

    • Reflections on Beginnings
    • By: Madeleine L'Engle, Rachel Held Evans - Foreword
    • Narrated by: Pamela Almand
    • Length: 6 hrs and 24 mins
    • Unabridged
    • Overall
      4.5 out of 5 stars 11
    • Performance
      5 out of 5 stars 10
    • Story
      5 out of 5 stars 10

    This classic work of spirituality from the author of A Wrinkle in Time offers life-transforming insights on the rich heritage of the Bible....

    Regular price: $20.99

    Free with 30-day Trial

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