Madeleine L'Engle, R.I.P.

One of my favorite authors from my formative years, Madeleine L'Engle, has died.

It's funny, in reading the article about her, I had to stop and take a breath at this passage:

Keith Call, special collections assistant at Wheaton College in Illinois, which has a collection of L'Engle's papers, said he considers her the female counterpart of science fiction author Ray Bradbury because people loved her personally as much as they loved her books.

I admit, she and Bradbury were my first science fiction authors. And one never completely gets over first love.

I read the whole series of Murry family books, even asking the local library to order a few for me through the interlibrary exchange system (my first forays into asking for things not on the shelf) after I discovered all they had were the first three, and I even attempted to pore over her essays on Christianity and spirituality. Unfortunately, I was still too wet behind the ears to gain much, then, from the nonfiction.

Her work has always been provocative and evocative. Either one is truly rare in today's publishing market. I am truly sorry to hear that she is now gone.