Madeleine L'Engle
@tesserwell.bsky.social
Madeleine L'Engle (1918-2007), author of more than 60 books, including the classic A WRINKLE IN TIME. Curated by granddaughter/executor Charlotte Jones Voiklis
A successful businesswoman had the temerity to ask me about my royalties...When told, she was duly impressed and remarked, “And to think, most people would have had to work so hard for that.” I choked over my tea, not wanting to laugh in her face.
Walking on Water
Walking on Water
November 7, 2025 at 1:02 PM
A successful businesswoman had the temerity to ask me about my royalties...When told, she was duly impressed and remarked, “And to think, most people would have had to work so hard for that.” I choked over my tea, not wanting to laugh in her face.
Walking on Water
Walking on Water
“At book’s end, readers may agree with L’Engle that ‘the Incarnation is so far beyond our factual comprehension as to be laughable,’ yet her writing will also have broadened their understanding of this mystery.”
-Publishers Weekly, 2001, Bright Evening Star review
-Publishers Weekly, 2001, Bright Evening Star review
November 3, 2025 at 1:02 PM
“At book’s end, readers may agree with L’Engle that ‘the Incarnation is so far beyond our factual comprehension as to be laughable,’ yet her writing will also have broadened their understanding of this mystery.”
-Publishers Weekly, 2001, Bright Evening Star review
-Publishers Weekly, 2001, Bright Evening Star review
I wish the church would be brave enough to acknowledge that there are questions to which, during our mortal lives, we have no answers.
The Rock that is Higher
The Rock that is Higher
November 2, 2025 at 1:01 PM
I wish the church would be brave enough to acknowledge that there are questions to which, during our mortal lives, we have no answers.
The Rock that is Higher
The Rock that is Higher
Success is one of the dirtiest temptations of the devil.
Walking on Water
Walking on Water
October 26, 2025 at 12:01 PM
Success is one of the dirtiest temptations of the devil.
Walking on Water
Walking on Water
I have never served a work as I would like to, but I do try, with each book, to serve to the best of my ability, and this attempt at serving is the greatest privilege and the greatest joy that I know.
Madeleine L’Engle Herself
Madeleine L’Engle Herself
October 24, 2025 at 12:04 PM
I have never served a work as I would like to, but I do try, with each book, to serve to the best of my ability, and this attempt at serving is the greatest privilege and the greatest joy that I know.
Madeleine L’Engle Herself
Madeleine L’Engle Herself
It is still taught in some seminaries that it is a heresy to think that God can suffer with us. But what does the incarnation show us but the ultimate act of particularity? This is what compassion is all about.
A Circle of Quiet
A Circle of Quiet
October 19, 2025 at 12:01 PM
It is still taught in some seminaries that it is a heresy to think that God can suffer with us. But what does the incarnation show us but the ultimate act of particularity? This is what compassion is all about.
A Circle of Quiet
A Circle of Quiet
We don’t want to feel less when we have finished a book; we want to feel that new possibilities of being have been opened to us. We don’t want to close a book with a sense that life is totally unfair and that there is no light in the darkness; we want to feel that we have been given illumination.
October 17, 2025 at 12:04 PM
We don’t want to feel less when we have finished a book; we want to feel that new possibilities of being have been opened to us. We don’t want to close a book with a sense that life is totally unfair and that there is no light in the darkness; we want to feel that we have been given illumination.
We need the prayer of words, yes; the words are the path to contemplation; but the deepest communion with God is beyond words, on the other side of silence.
Walking on Water
Walking on Water
October 12, 2025 at 12:02 PM
We need the prayer of words, yes; the words are the path to contemplation; but the deepest communion with God is beyond words, on the other side of silence.
Walking on Water
Walking on Water
The more limited the literature we give to our children, the more limited their capacity to respond, and therefore, in their turn, to create.
A Circle of Quiet
A Circle of Quiet
October 10, 2025 at 12:03 PM
The more limited the literature we give to our children, the more limited their capacity to respond, and therefore, in their turn, to create.
A Circle of Quiet
A Circle of Quiet
A Wrinkle in Time (pb and audio) and A Wrinkle in Time: The Graphic Novel are part of Amazon’s Prime Day deals on October 7–8!
However you shop -- whether you click, tap, or browse in person at you local, independent bookstore -- thank you for being a reader!
However you shop -- whether you click, tap, or browse in person at you local, independent bookstore -- thank you for being a reader!
October 8, 2025 at 12:29 PM
A Wrinkle in Time (pb and audio) and A Wrinkle in Time: The Graphic Novel are part of Amazon’s Prime Day deals on October 7–8!
However you shop -- whether you click, tap, or browse in person at you local, independent bookstore -- thank you for being a reader!
However you shop -- whether you click, tap, or browse in person at you local, independent bookstore -- thank you for being a reader!
I had yet to learn the faithfulness of doubt. This is often assumed by the judgmental to be faithlessness, but it is not; it is a prerequisite for a living faith.
Walking on Water
Walking on Water
October 5, 2025 at 12:01 PM
I had yet to learn the faithfulness of doubt. This is often assumed by the judgmental to be faithlessness, but it is not; it is a prerequisite for a living faith.
Walking on Water
Walking on Water
A child is not afraid of new ideas, does not have to worry about the status quo or rocking the boat, is willing to sail into uncharted waters. Those tired old editors who had a hard time understanding A Wrinkle in Time assumed that children couldn’t understand it either.
Walking on Water
Walking on Water
October 3, 2025 at 12:02 PM
A child is not afraid of new ideas, does not have to worry about the status quo or rocking the boat, is willing to sail into uncharted waters. Those tired old editors who had a hard time understanding A Wrinkle in Time assumed that children couldn’t understand it either.
Walking on Water
Walking on Water
We tend not to see the peacemakers in our own path, or the opportunities for peacemaking which are presented to us each day.
The Irrational Season
The Irrational Season
September 28, 2025 at 12:01 PM
We tend not to see the peacemakers in our own path, or the opportunities for peacemaking which are presented to us each day.
The Irrational Season
The Irrational Season
So let me not make my passion for words into a golden calf, either, or I may fail to recognize the wonder of language changing as it emerges out of the experience of living.
Penguins and Golden Calves
Penguins and Golden Calves
September 26, 2025 at 12:02 PM
So let me not make my passion for words into a golden calf, either, or I may fail to recognize the wonder of language changing as it emerges out of the experience of living.
Penguins and Golden Calves
Penguins and Golden Calves
Compassion means to suffer with, but it doesn’t mean to get lost in the suffering, so that it becomes exclusively one’s own. I tend to do this, to replace the person for whom I am feeling compassion with myself.
A Circle of Quiet
A Circle of Quiet
September 21, 2025 at 12:01 PM
Compassion means to suffer with, but it doesn’t mean to get lost in the suffering, so that it becomes exclusively one’s own. I tend to do this, to replace the person for whom I am feeling compassion with myself.
A Circle of Quiet
A Circle of Quiet
If our vocabulary dwindles to a few shopworn words, we are setting ourselves up for takeover by a dictator. When language becomes exhausted, our freedom dwindles—we cannot think; we do not recognize danger; injustice strikes us as no more than “the way things are.”
Walking on Water
Walking on Water
September 19, 2025 at 12:03 PM
If our vocabulary dwindles to a few shopworn words, we are setting ourselves up for takeover by a dictator. When language becomes exhausted, our freedom dwindles—we cannot think; we do not recognize danger; injustice strikes us as no more than “the way things are.”
Walking on Water
Walking on Water
"This is a wise and inspiring book that should be in every artist’s library.”
~Vinita Hampton Wright, Walking on Water review
~Vinita Hampton Wright, Walking on Water review
September 15, 2025 at 12:03 PM
"This is a wise and inspiring book that should be in every artist’s library.”
~Vinita Hampton Wright, Walking on Water review
~Vinita Hampton Wright, Walking on Water review
Might we say that the opposite of love is power, rather than hate?
The Rock that is Higher
The Rock that is Higher
September 14, 2025 at 12:01 PM
Might we say that the opposite of love is power, rather than hate?
The Rock that is Higher
The Rock that is Higher
I write for...that part of us that is aware and open and courageous...that part of us that isn't afraid to explore the mythical depths, that vast part of ourselves we know little about and which we often fear because we can't manipulate or control it. That's where art is born.
The Irrational Season
The Irrational Season
September 12, 2025 at 12:03 PM
I write for...that part of us that is aware and open and courageous...that part of us that isn't afraid to explore the mythical depths, that vast part of ourselves we know little about and which we often fear because we can't manipulate or control it. That's where art is born.
The Irrational Season
The Irrational Season
I do not think that it is naïve to think that it is the tiny, particular acts of love and joy which are going to swing the balance, rather than general, impersonal charities.
A Circle of Quiet
A Circle of Quiet
September 7, 2025 at 12:01 PM
I do not think that it is naïve to think that it is the tiny, particular acts of love and joy which are going to swing the balance, rather than general, impersonal charities.
A Circle of Quiet
A Circle of Quiet
Madeleine died on this day in 2006.
"Each tree and leaf and star show how the universe is part of this one cry,
That every life is noted and is cherished, and nothing loved is ever lost or perished. "
A Ring of Endless Light
"Each tree and leaf and star show how the universe is part of this one cry,
That every life is noted and is cherished, and nothing loved is ever lost or perished. "
A Ring of Endless Light
September 6, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Madeleine died on this day in 2006.
"Each tree and leaf and star show how the universe is part of this one cry,
That every life is noted and is cherished, and nothing loved is ever lost or perished. "
A Ring of Endless Light
"Each tree and leaf and star show how the universe is part of this one cry,
That every life is noted and is cherished, and nothing loved is ever lost or perished. "
A Ring of Endless Light
As with all my books, Starfish was more rewritten than written, and with each subsequent book the need to rewrite becomes more rather than less. As the writer struggles to grow in knowledge of techniques, characterization, theme, more and more work becomes necessary.
Walking on Water
Walking on Water
September 5, 2025 at 12:01 PM
As with all my books, Starfish was more rewritten than written, and with each subsequent book the need to rewrite becomes more rather than less. As the writer struggles to grow in knowledge of techniques, characterization, theme, more and more work becomes necessary.
Walking on Water
Walking on Water
To write a story is an act of Naming; in reading about a protagonist I can grow along with, I myself am more named.
Walking on Water
Walking on Water
September 3, 2025 at 3:17 PM
To write a story is an act of Naming; in reading about a protagonist I can grow along with, I myself am more named.
Walking on Water
Walking on Water
If someone looks at me with concern, asking, “Are you all right? You look really terrible.” ...I’ll immediately begin to feel miserable. But if that same person says to me instead, “Madeleine, you look wonderful. I’ve never seen you looking better,” I’ll feel wonderful.
The Rock that is Higher
The Rock that is Higher
August 31, 2025 at 12:01 PM
If someone looks at me with concern, asking, “Are you all right? You look really terrible.” ...I’ll immediately begin to feel miserable. But if that same person says to me instead, “Madeleine, you look wonderful. I’ve never seen you looking better,” I’ll feel wonderful.
The Rock that is Higher
The Rock that is Higher