A Swiftly Tilting Planet

A Swiftly Tilting Planet (1978) is the third book in Madeleine L???Engle???s TIME quintet, a series of science fiction novels for children. The first book, the Newbery Medal-winning A Wrinkle in Time, blew my mind when I was a kid and I???m just now getting around to reading the sequels.

In A Swiftly Tilting Planet, Meg Murray is now an adult. She???s married to her childhood friend Calvin O???Keefe and is pregnant with their first child. It???s Thanksgiving time and Calvin is away at an academic conference overseas. Calvin???s mother, a strange reclusive woman who has never shown any interest in the Murray family, has unexpectedly accepted their invitation to Thanksgiving dinner. While she???s visiting, Mr Murray, a famous physicist, gets a call from the President of the United States. ... Read More: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/reviews/a-swiftly-tilting-planet/

This is the third book written (although the fourth book chronologically) in Madeleine L'Engle's Time series. I would say I enjoy it more than Many Water but not as much as either Wrinkle or Wind. As with all the books in the series, the actual story mostly serves as a vehicle to explore an interesting issue. In this case, Charles Wallace travels throughout time but always staying in the same place and experiences a series of interlocking stories. The big picture to me is the way that brother-against-brother (both literal and figurative) conflict has happened throughout time, and the outcomes of those conflicts have ripple effects. The through-line story is hard to follow because so many of the characters have purposefully similar names, which illustrates their ties but makes it hard to keep track. I also was aware in this reread more than I have before of the Indigenous people L'Engle portrays in the book. I'm curious if they were based on an actual tribe that L'Engle had researched (I can't find any information on the web on this), or if they were just a people group she imagined. Although they are respected and important people in the book, I'm concerned whether the portrayal is accurate or respectful.