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A Wrinkle in Time  By  cover art

A Wrinkle in Time

By: Madeleine L'Engle
Narrated by: Hope Davis, Ava DuVernay, Madeleine L'Engle, Charlotte Jones Voiklis
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Editorial review


By Seth Hartman, Audible Editor

A WRINKLE IN TIME IS A BONA FIDE SPECULATIVE FICTION CLASSIC

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.

Continue reading Seth's review >

Publisher's summary

Madeleine L’Engle’s ground-breaking science fiction and fantasy classic, now a major motion picture. This audiobook includes an introduction read by the film director Ava DuVernay, a foreword read by the author, and an afterword read by Madeleine L’Engle’s granddaughter Charlotte Jones Voiklis.

Meg Murray, 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. He claims to have been blown off course, and goes on to tell them that there is such a thing as a “tesseract”, which, if you didn’t know, is a wrinkle in time. Meg’s father had been experimenting with time-travel when he suddenly disappeared. Will Meg, Charles Wallace, and their friend Calvin outwit the forces of evil as they search through space for their father?

In 1962, Madeleine L’Engle debuted her novel A Wrinkle in Time, which would go on to win the 1963 Newbery Medal. Bridging science and fantasy, darkness and light, fear and friendship, the story became a classic of children’s literature and is beloved around the world.

A Wrinkle in Time is the first book in The Time Quintet, which consists of A Wrinkle in Time, A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, Many Waters, and An Acceptable Time.

© 2007 by Taeeun Yoo. Used with permission of Pippin Properties, Inc.

©1962 Madeleine L'Engle (P)2011 Random House Audio

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What listeners say about A Wrinkle in Time

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Thank You for a New Narrator

Have always loved this book and when I found it in unabridged form I was thrilled. The first copy I purchased was narrated by the author, and while I love her books - I could not stand the sound of her voice. I was never able to get through the audio version because of it.

Now this new narrator is great and gives the feel of Meg Murray and her family. She does a great job. Story, great, narrator great - definitely recommended.

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512 people found this helpful

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Great narration.

One of my favorite books from childhood. Hope Davis narrating is great. I first attempted to listen to a version narrated by the author, and it was unlistenable. Ms. L'engle is a genius writer, but her voice is not appropriate for the protagonist, and is, unfortunately, very spitty. And moist.

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239 people found this helpful

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Throwing in the towel - totally unlistenable

I'm roughly 2 hours in and I give up. The narration has been disappointing from the beginning - the tone overly dramatic, failing to create an authentic feel for the characters. Meg and Calvin are especially over done. I was going to push through anyway, but then Mrs. Which came into the picture, and that did it. The drawn out wailing voice is unlistenable. I'll get this in print to discover the rest of the story, but because of the horrible narration, this is going back.

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62 people found this helpful

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First book my....

...mother read to me as a child. The movie trailer triggered the memory for me. I haven’t read it since and figured it was high time I did.

The story was fantastic, it touched mathematics, numerous sciences and still connected it spiritually. It is a rare thing for an author to attempt to make all sides have their fair say, it is rarer still for an author to so successfully accomplish it.

I found the narrator to be so-so, her Meg voice just annoyed the heck out of me, thus the mid tier rating.

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Winderful, captivating, story

Any additional comments?

It's still a fun and fabulous book. I first read it when I was a preteen or teenager, and the only thing was the struggle between "good" and "evil". I have read it several times since then, and each time I get a little more from it. I doubt that the author intended it to be an allegorical treatise on good versus evil, but it can be twisted and used and interpreted and applied to so many situations that it is easy to create it.
I realized this time that that the main character is only 13. It seems wrong in many ways, except that when I first read it, I was about that, and she seemed so right.
It's about a girl, Meg, who gets involved in a search for her missing scientist father, with her younger (five-year-old) "strange" brother, Charles-Wallace and a 15-year-old boy, Calvin, that she just met but is equivalently (although totally differently) strange. They get taken up by three wacky superhuman women and travel through galaxies and experience true evil incarnate. All of the characters are well-defined, and when you think that there's a chink, you determine that it's really just humanity written in. I strongly recommend this!

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Just as I remembered it as a child

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes. I read this book as a child and loved it, I wanted to relive it with audio as I drove to my sisters house. I would recommend this to a friend to entertain you on a road trip, or nostalgia, or for your kids!

What other book might you compare A Wrinkle in Time to and why?

There are no other books I have read that compare to this classic. I love the science fiction woven into a childrens book!

Have you listened to any of Hope Davis’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No I haven't. I might have to, if she did any other Madeline L'Engle's audio books I might soon!

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Travel to an alternate solar system and back.

Any additional comments?

I was always bothered by Mrs. Whatsit's talking in quotes, that has always bothered me when people speak in quotes.

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Classic fairy tale

I really enjoyed the story, but it took a lot of effort to get past the voice for Meg. She felt like a parody of a whining child, reminiscent of Veruca Salt. The inner monologues made her an enjoyable character, but I feel like I’ll enjoy it more as a physical read.

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Difficult to listen too

Reader as a really annoying voice. Different voices for different characters. All of the children are voiced in a quivery whining tone that makes listening almost unbearable. More like a children’s performance for third graders.

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36 people found this helpful

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Life is like a sonnet & she made poetry out of it!

If you wanna know more about this book and my experience, look for me! Inkish Kingdoms! (Wordpress)

The narration and the performer are amazing and outside of this world! She changes her voice totally for all the characters! You can totally follow the story just with her voices, such an experience! I will totally recommend you this amazing book!!

Regarding the book, the main character was at some point so annoying and immature. More at the end of the book than at the beginning. The message the author wants us to see through this character, or at least that is what I see, is to love yourself even with all your flaws. Besides, this title is for “kids” so I really like that message.

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Childhood Classic

I can see why this book is a children???s classic; the adventure, intrigue and fantasy world combine together to make a truly fantastic novel. This is the first time I???ve read this book and I do feel like I missed out on experiencing this as a child. The three children in this book are great characters, not the typical sweet kids you seem to find in children???s stories; these kids have flaws and have been told to embrace them. Through their adventures to Camazotz you find that all the kids talents work together to help each other; Calvin shows an interest in philosophy, Meg with her talent for mathematics and Charles' intellectually curious.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, the intrigue kept pushing me through this book. 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. Don???t let the fact that this is a Children???s classic stop you from reading this book; like Alice???s Adventures in Wonderland this is equally enjoyable to read as an adult. The philosophical and religious metaphors in the book would make this the perfect book to dissect and explore deeper.

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