Arthur (The Year of Small Things) weaves her personal history into a biography, close textual reading, and theological discussion of the life and work of Madeline L'Engle in this overly glowing book. She begins by explaining her introduction to L'Engle while at Wheaton College, gravitating to her as a "Christian author who could function quite unperturbedly from inside paradox." L'Engle was born in 1918 in New York City, an only child who found the Anglican Book of Common Prayer while at boarding school in Switzerland and later declared the King James Bible "the rock on which the English language stands" while at Smith College. Soon after college, she married, moved to a farm in Connecticut, and began a life of prodigious literary output. The book jumps from L'Engle's life to textual criticism at breakneck speed, with the second chapter containing a complete analysis of A Wrinkle in Time, primarily unveiling the themes that reflect L'Engle's own spiritual and theological questioning. Arthur also includes interviews with authors Sarah Bessey, Sara Zarr, and Nikki Grimes and artist Makoto Fujimura, who recount the influence of L'Engle on their work. Though readers strongly interested in L'Engle will relish Arthur's highly detailed book, general readers will be frustrated by its amorphous structure. (Aug.) c Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.