Time Quintet Books in Order: How to read Madeleine L’Engle’s series (A Wrinkle in Time)?

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The Time Quintet is a fantasy/science fiction series written by Madeleine L’Engle. And, as the title suggests, the series contains five novels. The Time Quintet series follows the lives of Meg Murry, her youngest brother Charles Wallace Murry, and their friend Calvin O’Keefe. Together, they try to save the world from evil forces.

Everything began with Meg and Charles Wallace trying to find their missing father with the help of Calvin. This quest put them on a trip through time and space.

How to read the Time Quintet in Order?

I. Only the Time Quintet Books in Order

  1. A Wrinkle in Time – It was a dark and stormy night; Meg Murry, her small brother Charles Wallace, and her mother had come down to the kitchen for a midnight snack when they were upset by the arrival of a most disturbing stranger.”Wild nights are my glory,” the unearthly stranger told them. “I just got caught in a downdraft and blown off course. Let me sit down for a moment, and then I’ll be on my way. Speaking of ways, by the way, there is such a thing as a tesseract,” a wrinkle in time.
  2. A Wind in the Door – It is November. When Meg comes home from school, Charles Wallace tells her he saw dragons. That night Meg, Calvin and C.W. go to the vegetable garden to meet the Teacher (Blajeny) who explains that what they are seeing isn’t a dragon at all, but a cherubim named Proginoskes. It turns out that C.W. is ill and that Blajeny and Proginoskes are there to make him well-by making him well, they will keep the balance of the universe in check and save it from the evil Echthros.
  3. A Swiftly Tilting Planet – Fifteen-year-old Charles Wallace and the unicorn Gaudior undertake a perilous journey through time in a desperate attempt to stop the destruction of the world by the mad dictator Madog Branzillo. They are not alone in their quest. Charles Wallace’s sister, Meg-grown and expecting her first child-goes with him in spirit. Charles Wallace must face the ultimate test of his faith and his will as he is sent within four people from another time, there to search for a way to avert the tragedy threatening them all.
  1. Many Waters – Sandy and Dennys have always been the normal, run-of-the-mill ones in the extraodinary Murry family. They garden, make an occasional A in school, and play baseball. Nothing especially interesting has happened to the twins until they accidentally interrupt their father’s experiment. Then the two boys are thrown across time and space. They find themselves alone in the desert, where, if they believe in unicorns, they can find unicorns, and whether they believe or not, mammoths and manticores will find them.
  2. An Acceptable Time – A flash of lightning, quivering ground, and, instead of her grandparents’ farm, Polly sees mist and jagged mountains-and coming toward her, a group of young men carrying spears. Why has a time gate opened and dropped Polly into a world that existed 3,000 years ago? Will she be able to get back to the present before the time gate closes?

II. The Mury-O’Keefe Family Books in Order

There are more adventures. The Time Quintet is the sore story, but Madeleine L’Engle wrote three more books with the Mury-O’Keefe Family. Those books are mostly about the children of Calvin and Meg O’Keefe, especially their eldest daughter, Polly O’Keefe, and their youngest son, Charles.

Here is the full-reading order with those three books:

  1. A Wrinkle in Time
  2. A Wind in the Door
  3. A Swiftly Tilting Planet
  4. Many Waters
  5. The Arm of the Starfish
  6. Dragons in the Waters
  7. A House Like a Lotus
  8. An Acceptable Time

More details:

  1. The Arm of the Starfish-When Adam Eddington, a gifted marine biology student, makes the acquaintance of Kali Cutter at Kennedy International Airport on his way to Portugal to spend the summer working for the renowned scientist Dr. O’Keefe, he has no idea that this seemingly chance meeting will set into motion a chain of events he will be unable to stop. Caught between Kali’s seductive wiles and the trusting adoration of Dr. O’Keefe’s daughter, Poly, Adam finds himself enmeshed in a deadly power struggle between two groups of people.
  2. Dragons in the Waters-Thirteen-year-old Simon Renier has no idea when he boards the M.S. Orion with his cousin Forsyth Phair that their journey to Venezuela will be a dangerous one. His original plan-to return a family heirloom, a portrait of Simon Bolivar, to its rightful place-is sidetracked when cousin Forsyth is found murdered. When the portrait is stolen, all passengers and crew are suspects. Simon’s newfound friends, Poly and Charles O’Keefe, and their scientist father help Simon try to find his painting, and his cousin’s murderer.
  3. A House Like a Lotus-Sixteen-year-old Polly is on her way to the island of Cyprus, where she will work as a gofer. The trip was arranged by Maximiliana Horne, the new O’Keefe family’s neighbor on Benne Seed Island. Max and Polly formed an instant friendship and Max took over Polly’s education, giving her the encouragement and confidence that her isolated upbringing had not. Polly adored Max, even idolized her, until Max betrayed her. In Greece, Polly finds romance, danger, and unique friendships. But can she ever forgive Max?

If you like our article about the Time Quintet reading order, don’t forget to bookmark it! You may be interested in the Chrestomanci series by Diana Wynne Jones.

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