Meet the Austins, Madeleine LEngle
Meet the Austins, Madeleine LEngle
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Meet the Austins
Book One of The Austin Family Chronicles

Author: Madeleine L'Engle

Narrator: Jorjeana Marie

Unabridged: 6 hr 45 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 02/19/2019

Synopsis

Book one of the Austin Family Chronicles, an award-winning young adult series from Madeleine L'Engle, author of A Wrinkle in Time, about a girl who experiences the difficulties and joys of growing up.

"Beautifully written, with integrity and warmth, and young people are bound to identify with the characters, each a person in his own right, and to read absorbed from first page to last. Thoroughly recommended." --Chicago Tribune

For a family with four kids, two dogs, assorted cats, and a constant stream of family and friends dropping by, life in the Austin family home has always been remarkably steady and contented. When a family friend suddenly dies in a plane crash, the Austins open their home to an orphaned girl, Maggy Hamilton. The Austin children-Vicky, John, Suzy, and Rob-do their best to be generous and welcoming to Maggy.

Vicky knows she should feel sorry for Maggy, but having sympathy for Maggy is no easy thing. Maggy is moody and spoiled; she breaks toys, wakes people in the middle of the night screaming, discourages homework, and generally causes chaos in the Austin household. How can one small child disrupt a family of six? Will life ever return to normal?

About The Author

Madeleine L'Engle (1918-2007) was born in New York City and attended Smith College. She wrote more than 60 books, the most famous of which is A Wrinkle In Time (1962), winner of the Newbery Award in 1963. L'Engle continued the story of the Murry family from A Wrinkle In Time with seven other novels, all available on audio from Listening Library. She also wrote the famous series featuring the Austin family, beginning with the novel Meet The Austins (1960). L'Engle revisited the Austins four more times over the next three decades, concluding with Troubling a Star in 1994. The story of the Austins had some autobiographical elements, mirroring Madeleine's life and the life of her family. Read more about L'Engle's life in Becoming Madeleine: A Biography of the Author of A Wrinkle in Time by Her Granddaughters by Charlotte Jones Voiklis and Léna Roy.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Lisa on September 03, 2007

This is one of my favorite books from childhood. I first read it in 1962 when I was 9. I still enjoy the story, and all of Madeleine L'Engle's books for that matter, but I think it's probably somewhat dated; kids today might not enjoy it that much, unless they are reading it as a period piece. It's......more

Goodreads review by Hilary on September 22, 2016

We really enjoyed this story. The title is apt because you did feel you were meeting and getting to know this family. We loved the detail of day to day life and relationships, the laughs and the squabbles and ups and downs of family life. We enjoyed looking into their life, the picnics on mountains......more

Goodreads review by Tiff on September 06, 2015

3.5 stars. Despite my enduring love for Madeleine L'Engle and my obsession with her lesser-known heroine Vicky Austin, for some reason I never quite got to Meet the Austins. Maybe because I knew that it didn't involve any of the scientific elements that feature in so many of her later novels, maybe......more

Goodreads review by Melissa on February 12, 2008

Reading L'Engle's memoir Two-Part Invention put me in the mood to reread this old favorite for the umpteenth time. The Austin family shaped my ideal of family life: the classical music as soundtrack, the bustling happy chaos, the spirited discussions of literature and art and religion, the homey rhy......more

Goodreads review by Judy on December 02, 2012

THE SUNDAY FAMILY READ When Meet the Austins was published in 1960, Madeleine L'Engle was two years away from publishing her break out book A Wrinkle in Time. Somewhere I read that she was quite discouraged as an author at this time, even though she had been writing stories since childhood. She got......more

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