This does not mean that I ought to be trapped or enclosed in any of these ages, the perpetual student, the delayed adolescent, the childish adult, but that they are in me to be drawn on; to forget is a form of suicide; my past is part of what makes the present Madeleine and must not be denied or rejected or forgotten.
May all of us accept, embrace, and remember. And in Vicky Austin’s words:
Each tree and leaf and star show how
The universe is part of this one cry,
That every life is noted and is cherished,
And nothing loved is ever lost or perished.
Léna and Charlotte, Photo by Amy Drucker
Authors’ Note
Writing this book has been quite a journey. We were reluctant at first to try to tackle our grandmother’s biography. After all, she herself spoke and wrote about her life a good deal, and we were aware of the fact that the lines between fiction, nonfiction, and memoir can be blurry, for our grandmother no less than for everyone else. How could we write about her in a way that would bring her to life in all her contradictory richness? That would do her justice and honor? That would be honest and fair?
There is something very special about the best grandparent-grandchild relationships. There can be friendship and love without the burdens of daily care and expectations that are so often present between parents and children. She delighted in us and loved us in such a way that we felt truly Named. This book was written out of love in return.
Part of loving someone is being able to see them clearly, and accepting them in all their imperfect fullness. Madeleine often said that she, like Meg Murry, could be both myopic and naïve about people. She never understood why some of her family bristled at Ilsa, or how the line walked between fact and fiction in Meet the Austins was hurtful to her children.
We decided to end the narrative with the publication of A Wrinkle in Time for several reasons. It marked a new stage in her life and career; we thought younger readers would be most interested in her younger days, as we were when we were in school; and we wanted to respect the privacy of her journals and travel gently through them, especially those from the time when we knew her.
We did make one adjustment for the sake of narrative clarity: while we refer to Madeleine’s mother as “Mado,” that was because two Madeleines made the story confusing, and so we gave her the French nickname that her own grandmother was known by.
We hope that this book is recognized as an act of love on our part, and we want to thank the people who made it possible for us to see that this was something we could do: Léna’s immediate family (husband Rob and children Cooper, Finn, and Scarlett); Charlotte’s immediate family (husband John and children Kosta and Magda); our mother, Josephine; and brother, Edward. Additionally, Charlotte wishes to thank Barbara Braver and Catherine Hand for their support and encouragement. Léna is grateful for her Writopia family—both her colleagues and her students, who challenge her to be creative and vulnerable.
Many thanks to our agent, Lisa Erbach Vance; our editor, Margaret Ferguson; and the rest of the team at FSG, including Melissa Warten, Roberta Pressel, Janet Renard, Jennifer Sale, Mary Van Akin, Amanda Mustafic, Caitlin Sweeny, Melissa Zar, and Grace Kendall.
About the Authors
Charlotte Jones Voiklis manages her late grandmother Madeleine L’Engle’s literary business. She lived with her grandmother during college and graduate school, co-hosting dinner parties, helping answer readers’ letters, and earning a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature. Charlotte has worked in academia, nonprofit communications and fundraising, and philanthropy. She lives in New York City with her husband and two children. You can sign up for email updates here.
Léna Roy published her first novel, Edges (FSG), in late 2010. She is the Regional Manager for Writopia Lab in Westchester and Connecticut, and her writing was featured in the essay collection for middle school kids and their teachers Breakfast on Mars and 37 Other Essays to Devour: Your Favorite Authors Take on the Dreaded Essay Assignment. She lives in New York. You can sign up for email updates here
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Contents
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Epigraph
Prologue
Before Madeleine
A New York City Childhood
Trouble at School
Switzerland
The Eustace Affair
Senior Year
The College Years
The Best School for a Writer
Making a Living
Work and Love
Marriage and Children
Making the Leap
Epilogue
Authors’ Note
About the Authors
Copyright
Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers
An imprint of Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010
Text copyright © 2018 by Crosswicks, Ltd.
All rights reserved
First hardcover edition, 2018
eBook edition, February 2018
mackids.com
The images and photographs in this book come from the authors’ family collection, used with the permission of Crosswicks, Ltd., with the exception of the following:
Switzerland: Châtelard—Courtesy of Collection Musée de Montreux, Switzerland; From Child to Teen: Ashley Hall—Courtesy of Ashley Hall, Cerberus staff photo—Courtesy of Ashley Hall; Senior Year: Ashley Hall senior yearbook picture—Courtesy of Ashley Hall; The College Years: Eva Le Gallienne—Courtesy of the New York Public Library Digital Collections; Epilogue: Madeleine and Newbery committee chair Ruth Gagliardo—Courtesy of Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers, A Wrinkle in Time jacket—Courtesy of Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Names: Voiklis, Charlotte Jones author. | Roy, Léna author.
Title: Becoming Madeleine: a biography of the author of A Wrinkle in Time by her granddaughters / Charlotte Jones Voiklis and Léna Roy.
Description: First edition. | New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 2018.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017014004 (print) | LCCN 2017027369 (ebook) | ISBN 9780374307653 (ebook) | ISBN 9780374307646 (hardcover)
Subjects: LCSH: L’Engle, Madeleine—Juvenile literature. | Authors, American— 20th century—Biography—Juvenile literature.
Classification: LCC PS3523.E55 (ebook) | LCC PS3523.E55 Z885 2017 (print) | DDC 813/.54 [B]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017014004
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eISBN 9780374307653