Becoming Madeleine

Two of Madeleine L’Engle’s grandchildren have taken the stories of their grandmother, her journal entries, some never-before-seen photographs, letters and memories and made a biography of L’Engle’s life. Focusing on her early years, the authors paint a picture of how the woman who is known as a great writer got there. From a life of emotional ups and downs, boarding schools, war, the theater, writing, rejections, death, love and friendships, L’Engle comes to life.

Maybe it is fitting Farrar Straus is publishing this biography, as it was them that finally brought Wrinkle in Time to publication. But it was a long journey getting there. Not a great student, L’Engle was always in the aware that she had to write. She was a writer. She as a writer like her father. She was a piano player like her mother. She was a friend. A wife. A mother. A grandmother. A great-grandmother. She was many personalities and she was not unware of that.

The great thing about this book is you can take from it what you want. I saw a good person who was a little selfish, a little naive, and was very intelligent. I saw some of my own thoughts and issues. Others will see how their favorite book was created. I was unware how much of herself and those around her she put into her books. The adult reader can really see a complex person. The child reader probably will just see a cool story about a cool person.