Why it's essential
Madeleine L’Engle achieves a singular vision of good and evil with her Newbery Medal-winning science fiction debut, A Wrinkle in Time. This sweeping tale of space angels, time travel, and alien overlords has a surprisingly intimate core, following its young heroes on an epic quest to save their father. Despite its lofty concepts, A Wrinkle in Time meets children and adults alike at eye level and speaks directly to their hearts.
Featured in: 100 Essential Screen Adaptations.
What is A Wrinkle in Time about?
This landmark novel begins the Time Quintet series and stars Meg Murry, a bright 13-year-old girl whose father has been missing for a year. After a fateful visit with an extradimensional being named Mrs. Whatsit, Meg, her little brother Charles Wallace, and her friend Calvin O’Keefe interact with a tesseract, the eponymous "wrinkle in time" that allows them to travel to the fifth dimension. With marching orders to rescue the Murrys's father, this trio is sent on a mind-bending journey through the cosmos.
Editor's review
Seth is an Audible editor and a certified podcasting fanatic. He lives for historical fiction, music and film analysis podcasts, and well-placed Oxford commas.
Like many kids growing up in the Northeast suburbs, I spent my summers at a sleepaway camp in the forests of Maine. Whenever anyone in my bunk would get homesick, our counselor, Claire, would pick a book from the small camp library. One night she came back with A Wrinkle in Time, an innocent looking little paperback. Little did I know, I was in for a much more substantive experience than I could ever have expected.
Our story opens with Meg Murry, an intelligent but shy girl who is becoming increasingly worried about her father, a brilliant astrophysicist who mysteriously disappeared a year ago. Before long, she is visited by Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which, a gaggle of extradimensional beings determined to help Meg find her father. These so called "cherubim" provide our call to adventure, sending Meg on a psychedelic odyssey along with her precocious little brother Charles Wallace and her good friend, Calvin O’Keefe.
Before the end of the first chapter, my 10-year-old mind was sufficiently blown, filled with foreign concepts like tesseracts, cherubim, and the fifth dimension. Despite the lofty terminology and subject matter, author Madeleine L’Engle dared me to continue on (or, at least, have my counselor continue reading to me). While revisiting this book as an adult, it became clear that this story was something much deeper and larger than a fairy tale. L’Engle was a true student of the world, drawing terms and imagery from a number of sources, from theoretical physics to religious mysticism straight out of the Kabbalah, and deftly melding themes of family, duty, freedom, friendship, and faith into this strange brew of influences.
The unique imagery and thematic layout of this book is not its only defining feature, however. A Wrinkle in Time was released in 1962, during a pretty iconic era of fantasy and science fiction. As one of the few women in the field at the time, L’Engle and her female protagonist Meg made a striking impact on the literary world. Looking back at my introduction to A Wrinkle in Time, I’m glad it was read to me in a female voice. Experiencing the audiobook as an adult was even more exciting, as a cast of narrators fully flesh out L’Engle’s assortment of characters.
While my deeply impressionable young mind worked hard to make sense of this exceptionally trippy novel, I can confidently say that this book has something for everyone. Not only a classic children's book, A Wrinkle in Time remains an essential entry among science fiction’s greatest works.
Did you know?
Madeleine L’Engle’s interest in quantum physics began when she picked up a book about Albert Einstein and his theory of relativity.
Publishers had a difficult time categorizing A Wrinkle in Time, unsure of its genre, age range, and difficult themes. Upon its completion in 1960, the novel was rejected by at least 26 publishers before being accepted by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, which, at the time, did not have a division or imprint for young adult fiction.
The character of Meg Murry is a genre pioneer, one of the earliest examples of a strong female lead in a science fiction book.
What listeners said
"Have always loved this book and when I found it in unabridged form, I was thrilled ... Story, great; narrator, great—definitely recommended." —Patricia, Audible listener
"I thoroughly enjoyed this book, the intrigue kept pushing me through ... The weirdness of the plot and the world reminded me a little of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass and how much I enjoyed reading that book." —Michael, Audible listener
"Read it as a 4th grader in 1964 after learning to read with "Dick & Jane" readers. It transformed my reading experience and launched me into Narnia and then middle-earth with a deep appreciation for all of L’Engle’s books and a love for fantasy and science fiction. Listened to it as a 64-year-old grandma prior to seeing the movie adaptation. Fell in love again! Can’t wait to read it to my grandchildren!" —Diane, Audible listener
Quotes from A Wrinkle in Time
"We can't take any credit for our talents. It's how we use them that counts."
"The only way to cope with something deadly serious is to try to treat it a little lightly."
"A straight line is not the shortest distance between two points."
"Experiment is the mother of knowledge."
Adaptations
A Wrinkle in Time was the basis for a 2018 science fantasy adventure film, directed by Ava DuVernay and written by Jennifer Lee and Jeff Stockwell. Starring Storm Reid as Meg Murry, the cast featured Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Mindy Kaling, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Michael Peña, Zach Galifianakis, and Chris Pine. It marked Disney's second screen adaptation of L’Engle’s novel, following a 2003 television film.
About the author
Madeleine L’Engle was an American writer of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and young adult novels, including A Wrinkle in Time and its sequels, A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Panel, Many Waters, and An Acceptable Time. Born on November 29, 1918, she spent her formative years in New York City and studied English at Smith College. After graduating, she returned to New York City and worked in the theater, where Equity union pay and a flexible schedule afforded her the time to write. She published her first two novels—The Small Rain and Ilsa—before meeting Hugh Franklin, her future husband, when she was an understudy in Anton Chekov’s The Cherry Orchard. After her marriage, she continued to write while also teaching school and raising their three children. After her husband's death in 1986, she focused on writing and lecturing. Over her career, L'Engle wrote 60 books and won numerous awards, including the Newbery Medal. She died on September 6, 2007, at age 88.
About the performers
Hope Davis is an actress of theater, film, and television. She was named Best Actress by the New York Film Critics Circle in 2003 for her work in American Splendor, and has been nominated for Tony, Emmy, and Golden Globe awards. Her credits include the movie The Special Relationship, the Tony Award–winning play God of Carnage, and the television series, In Treatment.
Ava Marie DuVernay is an American filmmaker, director, and film distributor. She won the directing award in the US dramatic competition at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival for her second feature film, Middle of Nowhere, becoming the first Black woman to win the award. For her work on Selma (2014), she became the first Black woman to be nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Director and also the first Black woman director to have her film nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. In 2017, she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for her film, 13th. She directed the 2018 film adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time.
Charlotte Jones Voiklis is Madeleine L’Engle’s granddaughter and executor of her estate. She is the co-author, with Jennifer Adams, of A Book, Too, Can Be a Star, a picture book biography of her grandmother and the making of A Wrinkle in Time movie, and, with her sister, Léna Roy, of Becoming Madeleine, a biography for middle grade readers. She wrote the afterword to the 50th-anniversary edition of A Wrinkle in Time and the introduction to The Moment of Tenderness, a collection of short stories. She holds a PhD in Comparative Literature, and her work experience includes teaching, fundraising, communications, and grant making, as well as writing and speaking about her grandmother’s work to a variety of audiences.
