Lenten Reflection: A Wrinkle In Time

Heavy Lenten themes can morph into upbeat self-discovery---sometimes in a flash. Recently, during a browse at Hillcrest's Bluestocking Books, I came across the late Madeleine L'Engle's science-fiction classic, "A Wrinkle in Time," (Square Fish Publishers 2007, an imprint of Holtzbrinck Publishers, New YorK and now celebrating its 50th publishing anniversary (Farrar Straus and Giroux 1963) with an awesome 69th printing and---as of last month---ten million copies sold.

Initially, ''Wrinkle" had a dismal start out of the publishing chute; after 26 editorial rejections, the manuscript was finally acquired by the New York publisher. Featuring a young American heroine, Meg Murry, "Wrinkle" was considered a down-market genre, a high-risk publishing venture as an unsound departure from the usual male-dominated sci-fi market !

However, all gloomy predictions were amazingly reversed with a whopping "crossover" success---from the start, little boys, feisty teen-age readers and older male sci-fi addicts were fascinated by "Wrinkle,'' which copped the prestigious John Newbery Award of 1963 as best Children Book and was eventually produced as a TV film. Last month, USA TODAY reported that Scholastic Parent and Child magazine named "Wrinkle" as Number 3 of the all-time Best Children's Books, (beating out No. 6, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" .)

My memories revert to 1965 when I read "Wrinkle" with my lively godson, Tim, a ferocious young page turner who seemed delighted with Meg Murry (with her braces and self-esteem issues), her friends and mysterious helpers all who traveled across time and space in a tesseract, a four-dimensional vehicle, to rescue her imprisoned Father at the planet Camazoth! Wow! Tim was enchanted as Meg and her brave cohorts defeated the villanous "IT", a disembodied brain, before returning to the world.

L'Engle's premise included the idea that faith in the universe has meaning, with love and moral purpose and that our little human lives are not irrelevant---what we choose to say or do matters cosmically. She is known to many Anglican readers as a past writer-in-residence for 30 years at the Episcopal Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York city. She was apparently not dismayed by occasional accusations from religious conservatives who challenged the book as as presenting an inaccurate portrayal of God along with a belief in myth.

"Wrinkle" was the first in L'Engle's now-famous Time Quintet; children along with big kids continue to be spellbound by her books and I hope that Tim, a now a grown-up in Madison, WI, recalls his early joy from the book. I'll check that out!

Not a bad idea to keep the incredibly uplifting L'Engle classic by your bed during Lent.

Ellen Shaw Tufts