4/5 stars
What's it about? In the third installment of L’Engle’s Time Quintet, the Murry family gathers for Thanksgiving, joined by an adult Meg, pregnant with her and Calvin’s first child, and her withdrawn mother-in-law Mrs. O’Keefe. Nuclear war threatens, and a teenage Charles Wallace and the unicorn Gaudior are enlisted to ride the wind through time to undo the history that will lead a South American dictator to end the world. Mrs. O’Keefe may just be the key.
How’d I find it? I’ve already reread A Wrinkle in Time and A Wind in the Door, and both brought me much joy. It’s been a special endeavor to collect books that I adored in childhood and admire the excellent writing out there for young people.
Who will enjoy this book? The Time Quintet centers on the power of love to overcome evil, so if you want a well-written, feel-good story with a speculative twist, you can’t go wrong with these books. Think David Mitchell’s The Bone Clocks for kids.
What stood out? The cozy nature of this family, with their Bunsen burner meals and shabby quilts, always invites in the reader. I relish their quick embrace of oddities, such as personal calls from the President and animals that appear in the middle of the night. Beyond the usual fun of spending time with the Murrys, L’Engle outdoes herself in the chapters in which Charles Wallace goes “Within” Brandon Llawcae and Matthew Maddox. She handles descriptions of interactions between indigenous Americans and colonizers gracefully, though her Christian bias sometimes reveals itself.
Which line made me feel something? I loved the thinking of the People of the Wind, who know only good: “When was always Now, for there was little looking either backward or forward in this young world. If Now was good, yesterday, though a pleasurable dream, was not necessary. If Now was good, tomorrow would likely continue to be so.”
