Madeleine L鈥橢ngle: a new book from her granddaughter
Every now and then I check to see if a Madeleine L鈥橢ngle biography is in the works. It was a blow, when L鈥橢ngle died in 2007, to feel that my connection to both her fictional characters and her real family had ended .
Writer Cynthia Zarin once remembered a friend telling her that there were only two types of girls: 鈥淭hose who read Madeleine L鈥橢ngle when they were small, and those who didn鈥檛.鈥�
For the former (and surely the scale is weighted toward them), the world of Meg Murry and Charles Wallace 鈥� the young protagonists in the classic 鈥溾�� 鈥� felt so so very close-to-real. And that's not to mention other characters who inhabited the same universe, starring in their own L鈥橢ngle books and crossing over into others. As adults, we learned about L鈥橢ngle鈥檚 own life, family, and marriage through her 鈥溾�� series, including 鈥淭鈥�
So why the need for a biography?
Zarin鈥檚 2004 left fans unmoored, revealing that the writer鈥檚 family 鈥渉abitually refer to all her memoirs as 'pure fiction,' and, conversely, consider her novels to be the most autobiographical 鈥� though to them equally invasive 鈥� of her books.鈥� I like to think a thorough biography would help readers draw a clearer line between fiction and history, fill in blanks in the life of a talented, major figure鈥�. and, yes, give us a few more of her much-missed words.
But here鈥檚 what I discovered when I took my most recent peek at : Her granddaughter, L茅na Roy, has a young adult book of her own 鈥� 鈥� coming out Tuesday, Dec. 7.
Roy鈥檚 book isn鈥檛 a continuation of L鈥橢ngle鈥檚 world; it鈥檚 inspired by Roy鈥檚 work with teens in Moab, Utah, 鈥渁 story of love and grief, addiction and redemption.鈥� show praise from School Library Journal and Booklist, and say it stuck with them, with characters 鈥渟o true they make your heart hurt.鈥� The author鈥檚 bio doesn鈥檛 mention the L鈥橢ngle link, although Roy, a mother of three, does talk freely and generously about her grandmother on .
Kinship doesn鈥檛 mean similarity; it鈥檚 unfair to expect a writer to inherit talent or soul. Yet I find myself looking forward to 鈥淓dges,鈥� with great pleasure. It sounds like the sort of book I want to read. And that, though not precisely in that form, is just what I had been hoping for when I returned to L鈥橢ngle鈥檚 page.
Rebekah Denn blogs at .
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