Madeleine L'Engle's classic young adult books include A Wrinkle in Time, A Swiftly Planet, and Certain Women. The Small Place, an adult novel, focuses on Katherine Forrester, the daughter of distinguished musical artists, whose career as a concert pianist evolves through loves and losses. Katherine is a child growing up in a refined, yet bohemian, artistic ambience—theatrical as well as musical . . . . [Her] adolescence is lonely and difficult, but as Katherine advances to young womanhood, her heart as well as her talent is promisingly engaged (Publishers Weekly).
L'Engle has created an immensely appealing character; and in the course of her quietly well-told story she has given us a true picture of the life lived by serious artists.—Philadelphia Inquirer
Madeleine L’Engle (1918-2007) was the Newbery Medal-winning author of more than 60 books, including the much-loved A Wrinkle in Time. Born in 1918, L’Engle grew up in New York City, Switzerland, South Carolina and Massachusetts. Her father was a reporter and her mother had studied to be a pianist, and their house was always full of musicians and theater people. L’Engle graduated cum laude from Smith College, then returned to New York to work in the theater. While touring with a play, she wrote her first book, The Small Rain, originally published in 1945. She met her future husband, Hugh Franklin, when they both appeared in The Cherry Orchard.
Upon becoming Mrs. Franklin, L’Engle gave up the stage in favor of the typewriter. In the years her three children were growing up, she wrote four more novels. Hugh Franklin temporarily retired from the theater, and the family moved to western Connecticut and for ten years ran a general store. Her book Meet the Austins, an American Library Association Notable Children's Book of 1960, was based on this experience.
Her science fantasy classic A Wrinkle in Time was awarded the 1963 Newbery Medal. Two companion novels, A Wind in the Door and A Swiftly Tilting Planet (a Newbery Honor book), complete what has come to be known as The Time Trilogy, a series that continues to grow in popularity with a new generation of readers. Her 1980 book A Ring of Endless Light won the Newbery Honor. L’Engle passed away in 2007 in Litchfield, Connecticut.
After the birth of their first child, Madeleine and her husband moved to rural Connecticut to run a small general store; but in 1959, they returned to New York City with their three children so Hugh Franklin could resume his acting career (For many years, he played Dr. Charles Tyler on the popular television soap opera All My Children.) Although Madeleine wrote steadily during this period, few of her books were published. Then, in 1960, she released her first children's story, Meet the Austins. An affectionate portrait of a close-knit family, the book was named an ALA Notable Children's Book of the year and spawned several bestselling sequels.
Completed in 1960, L'Engle's science fiction YA classic A Wrinkle in Time was rejected by more than two dozen publishers before Farrar, Straus and Giroux finally released it in 1962. Elegant, imaginative, and filled with complex moral themes, the acclaimed Newbery Medal winner tells the story of Meg Murry, a young girl who travels through time with her psychically gifted younger brother to rescue their scientist father from a planet controlled by an evil entity known as the Dark Thing. Throughout her career, L'Engle would return to the Murry family three more times, in A Wind in the Door (1973), A Swiftly Tilting Planet (1978), and Many Waters (1986). The Time Quartet, as these four books have come to be called, weaves together elements of theology and quantum physics often assumed to be far too esoteric for children to understand. Yet, it became a true classic of juvenalia. L'Engle explained once, "You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children."
In addition to her YA novels, the prolific writer also penned adult fiction, poems, plays, memoirs, and religious meditations. She served as the longtime librarian and writer-in-residence for the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine. Madeleine L'Engle passed away at a nursing home in Connecticut in 2007.
hylas_sanders
Posted June 23, 2009
Madeleine L'Engle's 'The Small Rain' treads quietly and respectfully through the life of Katherine Forrester, a young piano prodigy, as she grows from a child into woman. It is a poignant introspection into the life of an artist, very similar yet very different from Potok's masterpiece 'My Name Is Asher Lev.' Both Potok and L'Engle take careful precautions to ground larger-than-life characters among the twisting affairs of Man. Katherine is neither a victim nor a hero. She has the capacity for great evil and greater good, but chooses neither. L'Engle stays true to Katherine's vacillating emotions, her artist's stubbornness, and lofty hopes.
Overall, this book reads like a sleeper hit, a classic. Anyone with a desire to understand the passion and pain of an artist's lifestyle should read 'A Small Rain.'
Anonymous
Posted November 7, 2005
This must be one of my favorite books of all time. The story is so touching and has such language that one can feel the joy and pain along with the book. As a piano student myself, I can relate to Katherine's problems a lot, and find some echoes of her story in my life. For that reason, this makes the Small Rain a spectacular read and is highly recommended.
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Posted June 11, 2003
This book is wonderful & is so truthful. It really lets the reader understand how Katherine Forrester, the main character, feels and has this way of making you feel somehow attached to Katherine. It is also suspenseful; it keeps the reader constantly wondering what the results of the many daily trials Katherine faces. It is just so beautiful and is one of my favorite L'Engle novels.
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Posted December 14, 2001
The Small Rain tells the growing up story of a young woman, Katherine Forrester, who's story begins at an early age of innocence and ignorance and follows her life to where she becomes a young adult, fully aware of her sourroundings and what she wants. The harsh lessons of childhood - death, first love, mistrust of best friends, and understanding of the real world - are not unaccostomed to finding themselves planted in Katherine's heart. But as she grows older, Katherine must learn to deal with and except them. Her devotion to the piano only makes the novel more so dramatic. And the teacher she comes to love will set the future for her entire life.
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Posted July 28, 2001
this has become one of my favorite books. the characters in it really come to life and you are easily brought to love them and the stuggles they go through. i however don't recommend the follow-up to this book-A Severed Wasp, it's a completely different kind of book.
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Posted July 26, 2001
This was not my first Madeleine L'Engle book, but it is certainly my favorite. Though it was her first novel, it is beautifully writen in a spirited and poetic style. The characters are portrayed realistically, and the situations are remarkably familiar. The story of Katherine Forrester is enchanting, and, in many cases, reflective of Madeleine L'Engle's own life. The ending is terribly sad and certainly disappointing from the realistic point of view, though when you can step back from it is also very uplifting and hopeful. I didn't want this beautiful story to end.
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Posted June 29, 2000
I did not want this book to end. I became so involved in the characters, they became a part of me during the time I was reading it. I rarely become enthralled in a book, like I did this one.
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Posted August 9, 2009
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Posted November 22, 2008
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Posted January 19, 2010
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Posted August 27, 2009
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Overview
Madeleine L'Engle's classic young adult books include A Wrinkle in Time, A Swiftly Planet, and Certain Women. The Small Place, an adult novel, focuses on Katherine Forrester, the daughter of distinguished musical artists, whose career as a concert pianist evolves through loves and losses. Katherine is a child growing up in a refined, yet bohemian, artistic ambience—theatrical as well as musical . . . . [Her] adolescence is lonely and difficult, but as Katherine advances to young womanhood, her heart as well as ...