by Kristi Jenkins

To compliment the First 50 on Rob Stennett's new The End is Now, I'm taking a look at Madeleine L'Engle's classic (and Newbery winner) A Wrinkle in Time. While the book isn't classified as Christian fiction, it has strong Christian overtones and remains popular among both secular and Christian readers.

A Wrinkle in Time is a  book that many people read as children, but few revisit as adults, so I was particularly interested in seeing how my impressions changed a couple of decades since my last read through. Middle grade and young adult fiction is often overlooked by adults, but good writing is good writing in any genre and aspiring authors can learn a lot by critically re-reading the books they enjoyed as children.

I have to confess that I didn't like any of L'Engle's books when I first read them. Although I was a budding science nerd, the concepts were above my head and I found the characters very hard to appreciate. The concepts are much easier to wrap my head around now, and I am finally able to see what has drawn so many other fans to L'Engle's work. Even the opening line, "It was a dark and stormy night," made me smile. Sure, it's considered cliché, but in this case, it works.  As the reader soon learns, the storm is the perfect representation of the turmoil inside the main character, Margaret (Meg) Murry. Meg is a typical high school girl: shy, self-conscious, and convinced that everyone else in her family is more interesting than herself. In any other case that might be hyperbole, but in Meg's family, she is the "normal" one. Her parents are extremely intelligent scientists, her younger twin brothers are star athletes, and her baby brother, Charles Wallace, is a child prodigy so far beyond his years that the townsfolk mistake his genius for stupidity. To add to her troubles, Meg's father left on an assignment for the government and hasn't been seen for a year. The town gossips claim he left for another woman, so Meg and her family have to suffer that stigma as well.
The story begins with a chapter titled Mrs. Whatsit. It's a relatively short chapter, but is packed with exposition and back story. A storm is brewing outside the Murry house and Meg is in her attic room worried about both the storm and the struggles she is having in school. "The house shook. Wrapped in her quilt, Meg shook." These nine words perfectly set the stage to reveal Meg's inner turmoil.  As the storm intensifies, she seeks refuge, and a mug of hot chocolate, in the kitchen downstairs. Charles Wallace, always uncannily in tune with Meg's moods, has already put a pot of milk on the stove to warm. Through this simple action, we learn the depth of the bond between Meg and Charles Wallace, and as their mother joins them, the backstory of their missing father comes clear.

This scene of domestic idyll is interrupted when the family dog alerts them to the presence of someone outside. Mrs. Murry goes to investigate and returns with a mysterious person bundled in layers of garish clothes. Charles Wallace recognizes the figure at once and greets her as "Mrs. Whatsit". Meg is puzzled by her family's acceptance of the stranger, which illustrates a nice bit of writing craft by Madeleine L'Engle. Charles Wallace's innocent acceptance of the stranger perfectly reflects his age and character while Meg's suspicion addresses the reader's concern over Mrs. Whatsit's peculiar arrival and demeanor. Meg serves as the story's grounding in reality. She is the character who asks the questions in the reader's mind,  while everyone else goes off on the flights of fancy that make the book so popular with children. Mrs. Whatsit declares that "wild nights are my glory," and goes back out into the storm, but not before telling Mrs. Murry that "there is such a thing as a tesseract." Mrs. Murry blanches and we later learn that she and Mr. Murry had been working on theories involving tesseracts, or wrinkles in time, before his disappearance.
Chapter two opens with Meg waking up to a gorgeous morning after the storm. The mood quickly darkens as she finds herself sent to the principal's office at school. Meg has a history of belligerence and is known as the scrappy member of  the Murry family. She has a thoroughly unpleasant confrontation with the principal, then comes home to find Charles Wallace waiting for her with a sack lunch and an urgent desire to go visit Mrs. Whatsit. Meg grudgingly agrees to accompany him, and they meet up with an older boy, Calvin O'Keefe, along the way. Calvin has his own troubles at home, and confesses to having a certain sixth sense about things, much like Charles Wallace. Calvin accompanies Meg and Charles to an old, supposedly haunted house where they find Mrs. Whatsit and her friend, Mrs. Who, decorating to enhance the haunted effect. Mrs. Who has a friendly, grandmotherly air to her, but tends to speak in quotations rather than straight speech. In her roundabout way, Mrs. Who informs the children that it is about time and that their father needs their help. She refuses to elaborate and shoos the children out. Meg and Charles invite Calvin over for  dinner and he declares that, "I've never even seen your house, and I have the funniest feeling that for the first time in my life I'm going home!"

The final chapter of the first 50 pages is titled "Mrs. Which" and introduces a  budding romance between Meg and Calvin. "This has been the most impossible, the most confusing afternoon of my life, she thought, yet I don't feel confused or upset anymore; I only feel happy. Why?" Calvin joins the Murry's for dinner, and we learn that, despite her protestations of being ordinary, Meg has a talent for math, and mathematical shortcuts, in particular. This neatly foreshadows her role in the coming events without being heavy handed in the explanation, a skill L'Engle puts to use many times in the book.  After dinner, Meg and Calvin take a walk in the moonlight, and share more about their families. Suddenly Charles Wallace joins them, followed by Mrs. Who and Mrs. Whatsit, and announces that it is time to go and find Mr. Murry. The disembodied voice of Mrs. Which joins them, declaring, "I do not think I will materialize completely. I find it very tiring and we have much to do."

The first 50 pages leave the reader on the cusp of adventure. There are mysterious creatures, unnervingly precocious children, and the mystery of a  missing father to solve. It's a set-up presented with tight prose, engaging characters, and the promise of exotic adventures, and it's no wonder A Wrinkle in Time has become a classic. And, yes, I enjoyed it much more as an adult than as I child.