Madeleine L Engle: The Story Of A Girl

The Story of a Girl Madeleine L’Engle was born on November 29th, 1918 in New York City. She traveled and lived to be 88 before passing on September 6th, 2007. Madeleine grew up in New York and spent time living in France, England, South Carolina, and Connecticut. Madeleine spent time acting, attending school, visiting family, and writing. In her writing career, Madeleine published around 20 books and has won acclaim at least 7 times for 3 different novels. Madeleine was an artist, an inspiration, and a dreamer. Her works expose the minds and hearts of the reader to many different thoughts and feelings. Growing up on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, Madeleine’s parents had many artistic friends and Madeleine grew up with an English nanny.

During the time they lived there Madeleine attended boarding school in Switzerland. Madeleine returned to the States for high school and attended Ashley Hall in Charleston, South Carolina. Madeleine attended Smith College and graduated with her bachelor’s degree and honors in English. After college, Madeleine returned to New York where she found work in the theatre doing small acting parts. She continued writing during this time and a few of her plays were produced. While in theatre, Madeleine met her husband, Hugh Franklin, and also published her first book, The Small Rain. The book was published in 1945, with Madeleine and Hugh marrying soon after in 1946. The couple’s first daughter, Josephine, was born in 1947. In 1951, before the birth of their son, Bion, the small family moved to the countryside in Connecticut and lived in a 200 year old house. While in Connecticut the couple bought and ran a general store. In 1956, the family welcomed and adopted a second daughter, Maria. Also while in Connecticut, Madeleine continued writing and wrote a few more novels but found herself in a professional block. The block ended with the publication of her novel, A Winter’s

She continued the series in 1963 with The Moon by Night, and again in 1968, 1980, and 1994 with the next books in the series, The Young Unicorns, A Ring of Endless Light, and Troubling a Star. The series earned six different awards, A Ring of Endless Light garnering most of them. Madeleine is better known for her second series, Time Quintet. The Time Quintet is comprised of five books, A Wrinkle in Time (1962), A Wind in the Door (1973), A Swiftly Tilting Planet (1978), Many Waters (1986), and An Acceptable Time