Madeleine L’Engle was a prolific female Christian author inspired by the writings of George MacDonald and C. S. Lewis. L’Engle won the Newbery award for her book A Wrinkle in Time, leaving behind a legacy that inspires millions of artists worldwide.
So, what can Christians learn from her life and work?
Who Was Madeleine L’Engle?
L’Engle was an actress, poet, and author of over 45 books. Born to an artistic family in New York, L’Engle grew up loving books, stories, music, poetry, and acting. However, she struggled to make friends at boarding schools in Switzerland and Charleston, South Carolina. She was shy, quiet, and a bit socially awkward. These idiosyncrasies later became her strengths as she made her way as a writer in New York while pursuing her education and acting career. After her father passed away in 1936, L’Engle vowed to pursue her passion for writing as he had encouraged her to. Words were her vocation.
L’Engle found success at a surprisingly young age. Her first book was published when she was only 27. During her time in New York, L’Engle starred in many plays. She met her future husband, Hugh Franklin, while they both performed in a production of Anton Chekov’s “The Cherry Orchard.”
After marrying Hugh and living in New York for a while near her family, they decided to move to Connecticut. They settled into a farmhouse called Crosswicks but moved back to New York in 1959 to support Hugh’s acting work.
The year they returned to New York, L’Engle had an idea for a book that over 25 publishers would reject over the next three years. Her persistence finally paid off; A Wrinkle In Time was published in 1962 to great acclaim and is still in print today.
Between 1962 and L’Engle’s death, she wrote many more books, gave lectures around the world, and taught classes on writing and the power of story.
10 Important Events in the Life of Madeleine L’Engle
1. L’Engle is born in New York on November 29, 1918.
2. L’Engle receives a B.A. in English from Smith College, New York, in 1941.
3. L’Engle’s first novel, The Small Rain, is published in 1945.
4. L’Engle marries actor Hugh Franklin in 1946.
5. L’Engle receives the Newbery Award for A Wrinkle In Time in 1963.
6. L’Engle becomes the librarian of St. John the Divine in New York in 1966.
7. A Circle of Quiet, the first of several memoirs known as The Crosswick Journals, is published in 1971.
8. L’Engle’s most famous book on faith, Walking On Water, is published in 1972.
9. L’Engle’s husband passes away in 1986.
10. L’Engle dies in Litchfield, Connecticut, in 2007.
10 Quotes by Madeleine L’Engle
1. “A book, too, can be a star, a living fire to lighten the darkness, leading out into the expanding universe.”
2. “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.”
3. “We are all strangers in a strange land, longing for home, but not quite knowing what or where home is. We glimpse it sometimes in our dreams, or as we turn a corner, and suddenly there is a strange, sweet familiarity that vanishes almost as soon as it comes.”
4. “Stories make us more alive, more human, more courageous, more loving.”
5. “If it can be verified, we don’t need faith... Faith is for that which lies on the other side of reason. Faith is what makes life bearable, with all its tragedies and ambiguities and sudden, startling joys.”
6. “The discipline of creation, be it to paint, compose, write, is an effort towards wholeness.”
7. “Faith is what makes life bearable, with all its tragedies and ambiguities and sudden, startling joys.”
8. “When the work takes over, then the artist is enabled to get out of the way, not to interfere. When the work takes over, then the artist listens.”
9. “The journey homewards. Coming home. That’s what it’s all about. The journey to the coming of the Kingdom. That’s probably the chief difference between the Christian and the secular artist--the purpose of the work, be it story or music or painting, is to further the coming of the kingdom, to make us aware of our status as children of God, and to turn our feet toward home.”
10. “If the work comes to the artist and says, ‘Here I am, serve me,’ then the job of the artist, great or small, is to serve. The amount of the artist’s talent is not what it is about.”
10 Books by Madeleine L’Engle
These books show the wide range of L’Engle’s work, from memoirs to science fiction novels. Her best-known work, the four full-length books about the Murry family’s adventures, are listed in books 3-6. An in-between short story, Intergalactic P.S. 3, is published separately. An Acceptable Time connects those books to another series about the O’Keefe family’s adventures (starting with The Arm of the Starfish).
6. Many Waters
8. Walking On Water: Reflections On Faith and Art
10. The Rock That Is Higher: Story As Truth
What Can Christians Learn from Madeleine L’Engle?
One of the most valuable things Christians can learn from L’Engle is understanding the importance of art in daily life. Since human beings are created in the image of God—we glorify God using our unique gifts, whether someone is a doctor, writer, social worker, counselor, poet, professor, nurse, teacher, mechanic, or bookseller. Raised in a home that encouraged creativity and gave her a love for story, L’Engle understood the importance of art as a gift from Christ to humanity. Art is not dissociated from real life. It is an important activity, and whatever its form (music or painting, film or literature), it explores what it means to be human. Jesus of Nazareth telling parables reminds us that sometimes storytelling is the best way to say profound things about the kingdom of God.
After my conversion from agnosticism to Christianity, I found L ‘Engle’s amazing book Walking On Water immensely helpful in pursuing my passion for writing. I was starting as a writer after encountering C.S. Lewis’s works. I did not have much confidence. Her incredible book helped give me that, as well as Lewis and other writers I went on to read.
In her book, she poignantly describes why all artists need to cultivate their craft—every day, whether they feel like it or not. She highlights the importance of reading widely and building off of their influences. She conveys the theological virtue of hope to inspire and encourage others in a confused, fallen postmodern world. She also captures the transcendent joy an artist experiences during the creative process.
Writers like Madeleine L’Engle
Many writers have been inspired by L’Engle or written in a similar vein. L’Engle singled out several writers she admired, like Frederick Buechner, who shared her interest in well-crafted Christian storytelling. As a member of the Chrysostom Society, she belonged to the same community as writers like Walter Wangerin Jr. and Robert Siegel, who also used fantasy or science fiction to explore Christian themes.
Other writers, like Tish Harrison Warren and Rachel Held Evans, have expressed gratitude to L’Engle and described how her work informed their artistic endeavors. I am immensely thankful for the artistic legacy of L’Engle.
10 Books about Madeleine L’Engle
Some of these books are biographies. Others are studies of L’Engle’s career. Some are reflections by friends and families. Each gives a new insight into her surprising life and work.
1. A Light So Lovely: The Spiritual Legacy of Madeleine L’Engle by Sarah Arthur
2. Madeleine L’Engle Herself: Reflections on a Writing Life compiled by Carol F. Chase
3. Becoming Madeleine: A Biography of the Author of A Wrinkle in Time by Her Granddaughters by Charlotte Jones Voiklis and Léna Roy
4. A Book, Too, Can Be a Star: The Story of Madeleine L’Engle and the Making of A Wrinkle in Time by Charlotte Jones Voiklis and Jennifer Adams, illustrated by Adelina Lirius
5. Listening for Madeleine: A Portrait of Madeleine L’Engle in Many Voices by Leonard S. Marcus
6. 40-Day Journey with Madeleine L’Engle by Isabel Anders
7. The Swiftly Tilting Worlds of Madeleine L’Engle edited by Luci Shaw
8. Christian Mythmakers: C. S. Lewis, Madeleine L’Engle, J. R. R. Tolkien, George MacDonald, G. K. Chesterton and Others edited by Rolland Hein
9. A Circle of Friends: Remembering Madeleine L’Engle edited by Katherine Kirkpatrick
10. Suncatcher: A Study of Madeleine L’Engle and Her Writing by Carole F. Chase
Photo Credit: G. Connor Salter/Unsplash
Justin Wiggins is an author who works and lives in the primitive, majestic, beautiful mountains of North Carolina. He graduated with his Bachelor's in English Literature, with a focus on C.S. Lewis studies, from Montreat College in May 2018. His first book was Surprised by Agape, published by Grant Hudson of Clarendon House Publications. His second book, Surprised By Myth, was co-written with Grant Hudson and published in 2021. Many of his recent books (Marty & Irene, Tír na nÓg, Celtic Twilight, Celtic Song, Ragnarok, Celtic Dawn) are published by Steve Cawte of Impspired.
Wiggins has also had poems and other short pieces published by Clarendon House Publications, Sehnsucht: The C.S. Lewis Journal, and Sweetycat Press. Justin has a great zeal for life, work, community, writing, literature, art, pubs, bookstores, coffee shops, and for England, Scotland, and Ireland.
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