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Madeleine L'Engle
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The Other Side of the Sun: A Novel Kindle Edition

by Madeleine L'Engle (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 1,036 ratings
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From the National Book Award–winning author of A Wrinkle in Time, an atmospheric novel of a young British bride in the American South after the Civil War.

When nineteen-year-old Stella marries Theron Renier, she has no idea what kind of clan she’s joined. Soon after their arrival at Illyria, the Reniers’ rambling beachside home, Theron is sent on a diplomatic mission, leaving Stella alone with his family.
 
As she tries to settle into her new life, Stella quickly discovers that the Reniers are not what they seem. Trapped in a world unlike anything she’s ever known, vulnerable Stella attempts to uncover her new family’s dangerous secrets—and stirs up a darkness that was meant to stay buried.
 
From the beloved, National Book Award–winning author of A Wrinkle in Time, The Other Side of the Sun showcases Madeleine L’Engle’s talent for involving and suspenseful storytelling.
 
This ebook features an illustrated biography of Madeleine L’Engle including rare images from the author’s estate.
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  1. Print length
    360 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Open Road Media
  5. Publication date
    May 2, 2017
  6. File size
    5192 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
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  10. See all details
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From the Publisher

Madeleine L'Engle

L’Engle with her husband

L’Engle with her granddaughters Charlotte Jones Voiklis and Lena Roy

L’Engle at a Manhattanville College commencement ceremony

L’Engle with her husband

L’Engle with her husband, actor Hugh Franklin, in 1946.*

L’Engle with her granddaughters Charlotte Jones Voiklis and Lena Roy

L’Engle with her granddaughters Charlotte Jones Voiklis and Lena Roy at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, Cathedral Library, circa 1975.

L’Engle at a Manhattanville College commencement ceremony

L’Engle at a Manhattanville College commencement ceremony, where she received an honorary degree in 1989.*

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Madeleine L’Engle (1918–2007) was an American author of more than sixty books, including novels for children and adults, poetry, and religious meditations. Her best-known work, A Wrinkle in Time, one of the most beloved young adult books of the twentieth century and a Newbery Medal winner, has sold more than fourteen million copies since its publication in 1962. Her other novels include A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, and A Ring of Endless Light. Born in New York City, L’Engle graduated from Smith College and worked in theater, where she met her husband, actor Hugh Franklin. L’Engle documented her marriage and family life in the four-book autobiographical series, the Crosswicks Journals. She also served as librarian and writer-in-residence at the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine in Manhattan for more than thirty years.
 

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B06X9HQYWQ
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Open Road Media; Reissue edition (May 2, 2017)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ May 2, 2017
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 5192 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 360 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 1,036 ratings

About the author

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Madeleine L'Engle

Madeleine L'Engle

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Madeleine was born on November 29th, 1918, and spent her formative years in New York City. Instead of her school work, she found that she would much rather be writing stories, poems and journals for herself, which was reflected in her grades (not the best). However, she was not discouraged.

At age 12, she moved to the French Alps with her parents and went to an English boarding school where, thankfully, her passion for writing continued to grow. She flourished during her high school years back in the United States at Ashley Hall in Charleston, South Carolina, vacationing with her mother in a rambling old beach cottage on a beautiful stretch of Florida Beach.

She went to Smith College and studied English with some wonderful teachers as she read the classics and continued her own creative writing. She graduated with honors and moved into a Greenwich Village apartment in New York. She worked in the theater, where Equity union pay and a flexible schedule afforded her the time to write! She published her first two novels during these years—A Small Rain and Ilsa—before meeting Hugh Franklin, her future husband, when she was an understudy in Anton Chekov’s The Cherry Orchard. They married during The Joyous Season.

She had a baby girl and kept on writing, eventually moving to Connecticut to raise the family away from the city in a small dairy farm village with more cows than people. They bought a dead general store, and brought it to life for 9 years. They moved back to the city with three children, and Hugh revitalized his professional acting career.

As the years passed and the children grew, Madeleine continued to write and Hugh to act, and they to enjoy each other and life. Madeleine began her association with the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, where she was the librarian and maintained an office for more than thirty years. After Hugh’s death in 1986, it was her writing and lecturing that kept her going. She lived through the 20th century and into the 21st and wrote over 60 books. She enjoyed being with her friends, her children, her grandchildren, and her great grandchildren.

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
4.1 out of 5
1,036 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Shannon
5.0 out of 5 stars Different
Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2019
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This story was different than what I'm used to reading from this author. It's almost like the book Love Letters where it's more gritty than Meet the Austin's or a Wrinkle in Time. A lot more adult themed.

At first when I read this book I wasn't sure that I liked it. It's an historical fiction set in post civil war Florida. I felt like I was there in the middle of summer. The people living in the scrub, the humid summer air, the sulfur water, and the beach. It reminded me of my grandparents house in southern Florida before the town grew.

There is some violence. A lot of hate, plot twists, and some surprise villains. The author did make some of the characters seem stereotypical like the southern lady aunts and Honoria and Clive acting as sergeants. I think she did that so you could feel the mindset of that time in history. If you can get past that the story was pretty good. Don't forget, like most stories by this author, it does have several battles against good and evil.

I enjoyed this story more than I thought and was pleasantly surprised by it.
20 people found this helpful
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4.0 out of 5 stars Powerful, but Offering No Solutions
Reviewed in the United States on June 20, 2017
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If you've read L'Engle other works, this novel will feel familiar. A young woman finds herself in a strange land, among strange people, trying to sort friend from foe. There is much said about faith, God, and the horrors of racism. There are lovely lyrical passages and there are horrific encounters with the evil men create. The book closes without offering any kind of hope for the resolution of racism. Ultimately, this left me feel more heart-sick than all the violence and death.
3 people found this helpful
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mare48
3.0 out of 5 stars Kept waiting for story to get interesting
Reviewed in the United States on June 26, 2017
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This book rambled on for more than half the book & almost put it down. I always try to finish a book to give it the benefit of the doubt. Last thirty percent was very good & finally gave some action to the story of a young Brit bride coming to the post civil war south to live in her new husband's family home. Saw horrible consequences of war - racism, mysticism & religion! The 3 stars were for the last half of book. Hopefully you can hang on. It was worth it.
8 people found this helpful
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Belle Sorciere
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful and painful.
Reviewed in the United States on June 22, 2017
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I think this is one of the most exceedingly human stories I've ever read. It tackles subjects which bring much discomfort and anger to many, even to this day. However, it also brings to light how very akin we all are to one another; within the span of emotions, emotional experiences, and drives. There is so much here, and you will ache for the stories each character has to tell. My heart broke for the love shown by certain characters. I'll say no more, I don't want to spoil anything. However, this is a story that will stay with you for awhile. It certainly will stay with me. It will also most likely cause you to think about deeper subjects; from what makes a family, to how the nation was built. Last thing: I think there are many heroes in this book and all for different reasons. People can change what the future holds, and if we try to act with love and the knowledge born of it, we may not always win or come out unscathed - but we can build bridges to light. Even in the worst darkness.
77 people found this helpful
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Paulette Folmer
4.0 out of 5 stars Suspenseful Reminiscences
Reviewed in the United States on March 9, 2021
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This is described as a psychological thriller, but I found it to be more of a fast-paced, suspenseful reminiscence thriller. Definitely keeps you turning pages to find out what happened.
2 people found this helpful
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Jean
5.0 out of 5 stars Gripping
Reviewed in the United States on July 18, 2023
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A tale of love and hate, forgiveness and revenge in the South after the Civil War, as seen through the eyes of a young British bride. L'Engle portrays people vividly and handles dialects deftly. I learned much about the complexities of the war's aftermath.
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Amanda G. Black
5.0 out of 5 stars Gripping tale of race relations told through the lens of a Southern family
Reviewed in the United States on January 18, 2018
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Not a book for the faint of heart. We will start there. This is a story from another time (around World War I), when mores and attitudes towards race were different. If you can't bear to read about that, then don't. With that said, I loved this book. I have read a ton of L'Engle's fiction and non-fiction, and this book featured much her signature charm: namely fantastic wordplay and subtle meditations of living gracefully in a fallen world. The book was a page-turner for me, and I was really gripped by the tale. It primarily tells the tale of a young English woman who marries into a rambling, old Southern family who live in an equally rambling beach house. She learns the stories of some spinster aunts and gets involved into some really big happenings. Totally good read and a total surprise. I had no idea this book was available, so I was very happy to download this onto my Kindle and into my mind.
31 people found this helpful
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Vicky
2.0 out of 5 stars Predictable, characters built around stereotypes
Reviewed in the United States on September 28, 2019
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Slavery in America was absolutely and without question an abomination; Jim Crow America was even worse IMO (if that is even possible).

I give this book 2 stars because it does have merit in its efforts to portray the horrors of the Jim Crow era, to push the reader to look at America from another country's perspective. Jim Crow horrors tend to get overlooked and minimized by the term "Slavery". Slavery is a historical fact to me, but was long before I was born, my parents, grandparents or even great grandparents were not even born before slavery officially ended. In contrast, Jim Crow attitudes incorporated very real memories from my northern childhood and events that I was aware of by watching television. Jim Crow atrocities continue even today and have grown to include actions toward the LBGQ community. Writers who push us to examine how the US still struggles with these widely held attitudes contributes to the greater good of society.

That said, this author was not able to write an effective novel about her subject matter. Her characters were not well developed, the plot was predictable, and the outcome obvious early on. She relied on stereotypes set within a Gothic novel format. Overall it was simply too contrived.
7 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

M. Tylene Barrett
5.0 out of 5 stars Thoroughly enjoyed
Reviewed in Canada on July 20, 2020
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I hadn't know she wrote adult books too. Loved her children's books too
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Bibliophile 3
5.0 out of 5 stars An author rediscovered
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 2, 2017
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If you loved 'A Wrinkle in Time' as a child, you will love this book by the same author for adults.
One person found this helpful
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k
5.0 out of 5 stars Indescribable
Reviewed in Australia on February 18, 2018
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A classic piece of literature for both theme and writing - I was carried into the world of the text and it changed me as the bestartdoes.
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Donna Gamble
3.0 out of 5 stars this book was a little strange
Reviewed in Canada on June 7, 2017
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I found the book strangely different. There were times I put it away but a day or two later would open it up again.
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kez
3.0 out of 5 stars The deep south
Reviewed in Australia on September 29, 2022
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Worth a reread. At first the many characters confuse, especially with the similar names, but then the story unfolds and things become clearer. An interesting and entwining mix if history witchcraft, superstition, racial I equality and imagination.
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