Here's the intro for the book's article on Wikipedia. It kinda gives you an idea of its achievements. (Don't the best books always get rejected in the beginning? Man, I feel sorry for those publishers...
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A Wrinkle in Time is a science fantasy[1] novel by Madeleine L'Engle, written between 1959 and 1960[2] and published in 1962 after at least 26 rejections by publishers[3] because it was, in L'Engle's words, "too different". The book went on to win a Newbery Medal, Sequoyah Book Award, and Lewis Carroll Shelf Award, and was runner-up for the Hans Christian Andersen Award.[4] It is the first in L'Engle's series of books about the Murry and O'Keefe families.
This story follows the adventure of Meg, her younger brother Charles Wallace, and a friend named Calvin O'Keefe. Meg's father was a scientist for the American government. Several years ago he was sent on a secret mission and never returned. This disappearance wounds Meg so that she is prone to outburst and rebellion, and Charles Wallace talks to no one outside the family.
One day, after meeting Calvin, Charles Wallace leads them to an abandoned shack where Mrs Whatsit, Mrs who, and Mrs Which reside. These three ladies are in fact immortal beings who take the three children on a quest to rescue their father and save a planet from the growing Darkness known as IT.
Of course, I can't ruin the story. I'll just say that the characters are real and touchable, the reader feels with and for them. The places, 2d planets and paraidises, are unforgettable. And, this story is in no way generic. It is original, engaging, and, if you read it, it will travel with you forever.
There are religious overtones in A Wrinkle in Time. Here, another Wikipedia quote.
L'Engle's liberal Christianity is unsettling to some. This novel is on the American Library Association list of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–2000 at number 22.[6] Reasons given include the book's references to witches and crystal balls[7] (although the characters are not in fact witches, and the crystal ball is a science fictional one), the claim that it "challenges religious beliefs"[8], and the listing of Jesus "with the names of great artists, philosophers, scientists, and religious leaders.
Along with the spiritual perspective, the book contains several interesting scientific aspects.
1. Computers. They were not invented at the time of the novel's publication, but in the book, while confronting IT, the children see rows and rows of machines, computing numbers and calculations. Computers.
2. Tesseract. This refers to the theory of traveling almost instantaneously to another place in the universe. The dimension of time is bunched together, and, instead of traveling the entire line, the traveler has only to go from end to end. By creating "a wrinkle in time", the children are transported to other planets. This is a conceivable idea of physics, but, is currently only in fiction.
Finally, I love this book. It comforts me and when I read it, it says that hope and love can defeat evil. So, go read it!
