madeleine l'engle is dead.

i have no idea how to do justice to her work's effect on me.

halfway through the nytimes obituary, i started tearing up. i haven't stopped. so much.

if you'd asked me any time in elementary school what my favorite book was, i would've told you a wrinkle in time. at least until i discovered a swiftly tilting planet. i read most of the children's and young adult series as soon as i could get copies.

a couple years ago, i discovered her writings for adults. more complex, more nuanced, more unabashedly autobiographical, but the same wise soul shining through the writing. i fell in love all over again. she quickly became a favorite christian author -- one who could speak from the other side of disbelief, about community and goodness.

r.i.p.