The Other Side of the Sun: A Novel (Wheaton literary)

by Madeleine L'Engle

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.

• ISBN10: 150404777X
• ISBN13: 9781504047777
• Publish Date: 19 September 2017 (first published 6 January 1972)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Open Road Media
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 342
• Language: English

Reviews

[Annie Jackson]

I like the little bit of magical realism in this novel, the way the world is something more than what we can perceive.

[ladygrey]

I don't know when it was published in relation to her other works, but this feels like a culmination of her fictional writing: an adult novel that incorporates ideas and themes she began exploring in [b:A Wrinkle in Time|18131|A Wrinkle in Time|Madeleine L'Engle|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1329061522s/18131.jpg|948387], [b:Many Waters|151370|Many Waters (Time, #4)|Madeleine L'Engle|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1330360643s/151370.jpg|1575861] and in several ways [b:A Swiftly Tilting Planet|77276|A Swiftly Tilting Planet (Time, #3)|Madeleine L'Engle|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1327465278s/77276.jpg|1196024]. Mostly, because in all these books, in various ways, you can see the myth within this reality that L'Engle perceived.

[b:The Other Side of the Sun|790132|The Other Side of the Sun|Madeleine L'Engle|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1381946758s/790132.jpg|731529] is an insular novel with a limited cast of characters and a small setting on the Southern coast. I have to admit in some parts I was waiting a little for something to happen, looking just a little more plot. At the same time, I liked that you could feel the time period, just after the Civil War, in the slightly languid pacing and the language and perspectives of the characters. There's not just a sense of history, but of connecting to that history in a kairos sort of time. It's a incredibly well formed story with dimensional and fully realized characters, however confusing their names may be at first.

It's also poetic. She isn't just talking about intangiblities of love and faith, she's doing it with such clarity and beauty. And it's spiritual as she deftly weaves forces of good and evil not just through the story but around the characters as if they're caught in a web both out of their control and that they're spinning themselves. People, in her stories, always have a conscious part to play in the tides their caught in.