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    The Other Side of the Sun: A Novel
    The Other Side of the Sun: A Novel
    The Other Side of the Sun: A Novel
    Audiobook13 hours

    The Other Side of the Sun: A Novel

    Written by Madeleine L'Engle

    Narrated by Sarah Zimmerman

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    A young British bride is caught up in her new family’s complicated history in this atmospheric novel set 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.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateJan 30, 2018
    ISBN9781543629835
    Author

    Madeleine L'Engle

    Madeleine L'Engle (1918-2007) was the Newbery Medal-winning author of more than 60 books, including the much-loved A Wrinkle in Time. Born in 1918, L'Engle grew up in New York City, Switzerland, South Carolina and Massachusetts. Her father was a reporter and her mother had studied to be a pianist, and their house was always full of musicians and theater people. L'Engle graduated cum laude from Smith College, then returned to New York to work in the theater. While touring with a play, she wrote her first book, The Small Rain, originally published in 1945. She met her future husband, Hugh Franklin, when they both appeared in The Cherry Orchard. Upon becoming Mrs. Franklin, L'Engle gave up the stage in favor of the typewriter. In the years her three children were growing up, she wrote four more novels. Hugh Franklin temporarily retired from the theater, and the family moved to western Connecticut and for ten years ran a general store. Her book Meet the Austins, an American Library Association Notable Children's Book of 1960, was based on this experience. Her science fantasy classic A Wrinkle in Time was awarded the 1963 Newbery Medal. Two companion novels, A Wind in the Door and A Swiftly Tilting Planet (a Newbery Honor book), complete what has come to be known as The Time Trilogy, a series that continues to grow in popularity with a new generation of readers. Her 1980 book A Ring of Endless Light won the Newbery Honor. L'Engle passed away in 2007 in Litchfield, Connecticut.

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    Reviews for The Other Side of the Sun

    4/5

    87 ratings6 reviews

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    • 5/5
      The story brought a light to the time after the civil war in the south in a unique seaside location.The author and narrator put the reader in the skin of an newcomer who was curious enough to be drawn into the deep emotional struggles of the conscience of southerners both black and white .The routine s in a deeply rooted southern household was echoed in the rhythmic calming sensory experience of the endless sandy beach and sky.But storms arose in harmony with the changing mood of those whose past hurts needed resolving. The dark side of the sun reflects the hard process that the heart must undergo to continue to love. It also shows there are dark forces that can lead us away from love just as there is a greater force that can keep us in love.
    • 1/5
      I tried to go back and finish, but I just can't do it. Shelving as DNF at 40%. At that point something should be happening, but it's just dragging along.
    • 4/5
      I love the aunts in this book, and the literary games they play. I wonder how much of my literary character, if you will, was formed by early and frequent exposure to L'Engle. Though if that were true, I'd probably be a Christian as well, or at the very least a theist.

      This is a strange book, dark and full of allusions, mysterious and circular and disorienting. Like the protagonist, Stella, one is plunged into a complex and layered Southern family with a generous helping of racial tension and conflict. On balance though, this, like all the other L'Engle books, is about the redemptive power of love. This one's darker than most, and the shocking denouement is precisely that- shocking no matter how many times one reads it.

      One central quote never fails to make me weep.

      "Only on love's terrible other side is found the place where lion and lamb abide.”
    • 5/5
      Not your typical L'Engle. This is a fiction book with strong roots in the authors family histories depicting racial issues in the south shortly after the Civil War.
    • 4/5
      Wonderful setting, beautifully sketched.
    • 4/5
      This book was a nice surprise, because I thought I had heard of, though not read, every Madeleine L'Engle book. Stella, the main character, is a typical L'Engle protagonist: smart, emotionally strong, and like-able. What is different about Stella though, is that she was raised an athiest, unlike most of L'Engle's main characters. By the end of the book, her mind has opened a bit, and she's thinking more about the possibility of a Supreme Being.