And Both Were Young and Both Were Young

by Madeleine L'Engle

[ladygrey]

The thing I love about [a:Madeleine L'Engle|106|Madeleine L'Engle|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1305256804p2/106.jpg] is that her writing can move from a straight forward telling of the story and then glance over and be so beautiful and evocative. The dialog is a bit simple and formal, but it was originally published in 1949 so that's understandable.

I loved this book because it's simple and sweet but still moving and transformative. She doesn't deny the darker parts of life or of this world, doesn't soften them or skirt around them; but she doesn't revel in them either. L'Engle exhorts us to remember, because it's worthwhile and because in remembering we become better people. And her characters are transformed both by the difficulties and by beauty but always toward goodness; transformed into being more whole and more brave and more honest. And in making them more truly themselves it's a naming sort of book which makes it wonderful.