Meet the Austins (23 page)

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Authors: Madeleine L'engle

BOOK: Meet the Austins
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QUESTIONS FOR THE AUTHOR
MADELEINE L'ENGLE
 
What did you want to be when you grew up?
A writer.
 
When did you realize you
wanted to be a writer?
Right away. As soon as I was able to articulate, I knew I wanted to be a writer. And I read. I adored Emily of New Moon and some of the other L. M. Montgomery books and they impelled me because I loved them.
 
When did you start to write?
When I was five, I wrote a story about a little “gurl.”
 
What was the first writing you had published?
When I was a child, a poem in CHILD LIFE. It was all about a lonely house and was very sentimental.
 
Where do you write your books?
Anywhere. I write in longhand first, and then type it. My first typewriter was my father's pre–World War I machine. It was the one he took with him to the war. It had certainly been around the world.
 
What is the best advice you have ever received about writing?
To just write.
 
What's your first childhood memory?
One early memory I have is going down to Florida for a couple of weeks in the summertime to visit my grandmother. The house was in the middle of a swamp, surrounded by alligators. I don't like alligators, but there they were, and I was afraid of them.
 
What is your favorite childhood memory?
Being in my room.
 
As a young person, whom did you look up to most?
My mother. She was a storyteller and I loved her stories. And she loved music and records. We played duets together on the piano.
 
What was your worst subject in school?
Math and Latin. I didn't like the Latin teacher.
 
What was your best subject in school?
English.
 
What activities did you participate in at school?
I was president of the student government in boarding school and editor of a literary magazine, and also belonged to the drama club.
 
Are you a morning person or a night owl?
Night owl.
 
What was your first job?
Working for the actress Eva Le Gallienne, right after college.
 
What is your idea of the best meal ever?
Cream of Wheat. I eat it with a spoon. I love it with butter and brown sugar.
 
Which do you like better: cats or dogs?
I like them both. I once had a wonderful dog named Touché. She was a silver medium-sized poodle, and quite beautiful. I wasn't allowed to take her on the subway, and I couldn't afford to get a taxi, so I put her around my neck, like a stole. And she pretended she was a stole. She was an actor.
 
What do you value most in your friends?
Love.
 
What is your favorite song?
“Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes.”
 
What time of the year do you like best?
I suppose autumn. I love the changing of the leaves.
I love the autumn goldenrod, the Queen Anne's lace.
 
Which of your characters is most like you?
None of them. They're all wiser than I am.
MEET THE AUSTINS
 
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, 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?
978-0-312-37931-5, $6.99 US/$7.99 Can.
 
THE MOON BY NIGHT
 
As if simply being fourteen-years-old weren't bad enough—what with the usual teenage angst and uncertainty—Vicky Austin's always comforting and reliable home life is changing completely. Her brother John is going off to college in the fall. Maggy has gone to live with her legal guardian. And the rest of Vicky's family is moving from their quiet house in the country to the heart of New York City. But before the big move, the entire Austin family is taking a meandering trip across the country in their station wagon, stopping to camp along the way, with no set schedule and not a single night of camping experience among them. Wild animal attacks. Life-threatening natural disasters. Cute boys on the prowl. Anything can happen in the great outdoors.
978-0-312-37932-2, $6.99 US/$7.99 Can.
 
THE YOUNG UNICORNS
 
The Austins are trying to settle into their new life in New York City, but their once close-knit family is pulling away from each other. Their father spends long hours working alone in his study. John is away at college. Rob is making friends with people in the neighborhood: newspaper vendors, dog walkers, even the local rabbi. Suzy is blossoming into a vivacious young woman. And Vicky has become closer to Emily Gregory, a blind and brilliant young musician, than to her sister Suzy. With the Austins going in different directions, they don't notice that something sinister is going on in their neighborhood—and it's centered around them. A mysterious genie appears before Rob and Emily. A stranger approaches Vicky in the park and calls her by name. Members of a local gang are following their father. The entire Austin family is in danger. If they don't start telling each other what's going on, someone just might get killed.
978-0-312-37933-9, $6.99 US/$7.99 Can.
 
A RING OF ENDLESS LIGHT
 
After a tumultuous year in New York City, the Austins are spending the summer on the small island where their grandfather lives. He's very sick, and watching his condition deteriorate as the summer passes is almost more than Vicky can bear. To complicate matters, she finds herself as the center of attention for three very different boys. Zachary Gray, the troubled and reckless boy Vicky met last summer, wants her all to himself as he grieves the loss of his mother. Leo Rodney has been just a friend for years, but the tragic loss of his father causes him to turn to Vicky for comfort—and romance. And then there's Adam Eddington. Adam is only asking Vicky to help with his research on dolphins. But Adam—and the dolphins—may just be what Vicky needs to get through this heartbreaking summer.
978-0-312-37935-3, $6.99 US/$7.99 Can.
 
TROUBLING A STAR
 
The Austins have settled back into their beloved home in the country after more than a year away. Though they had all missed the predictability and security of life in Thornhill, Vicky Austin is discovering that slipping back into her old life isn't easy. She's been changed by life in New York City and her travels around the country while her old friends seem to have stayed the same. So Vicky finds herself spending time with a new friend, Serena Eddington—the great-aunt of a boy Vicky met over the summer. Aunt Serena gives Vicky an incredible birthday gift—a month-long trip to Antarctica. It's the opportunity of a lifetime. But Vicky is nervous. She's never been away from her family before. Once she sets off though, she finds that's the least of her worries. She receives threatening letters. She's surrounded by suspicious characters. Vicky no longer knows who to trust. And she may not make it home alive.
978-0-312-37934-6, $6.99 US/$7.99 Can.
 
ALSO AVAILABLE:
 
A Wrinkle in Time
, 978-0-312-36754-1
A Wind in the Door
, 978-0-312-36854-8
A Swiftly Tilting Planet
, 978-0-312-36856-2
Many Waters
, 978-0-312-36857-9
An Acceptable Time
, 978-0-312-36858-6
Available at your local bookstore, or visit
www.squarefishbooks.com
.
MEET THE AUSTINS. Copyright © 1960 by Madeleine L'Engle, renewed 1988 by Crosswicks, Ltd. Copyright © 1980, 1997 by Crosswicks, Ltd.
All rights reserved. For information,
address Square Fish, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
 
 
An Imprint of Macmillan
Meet the Austins
was first published in slightly different form in 1960 by The Vanguard Press, Inc.
The chapter entitled “The Anti-Muffins” was first published in slightly different form in 1980
by The Pilgrim Press.
Square Fish and the Square Fish logo are trademarks of Macmillan and are used by Farrar, Straus and Giroux under license from Macmillan.
Published in the United States in hardcover by Farrar, Straus and Giroux
 
 
Designed by Lilian Rosenstreich
 
 
eISBN 9781466814141
First eBook Edition : February 2012
 
 
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
L'Engle, Madeleine.
Meet the Austins / Madeleine L'Engle.
p. cm.
Summary: The life of the Austin family is changed by the arrival of self-centered young
Maggy Hamilton, orphaned by the sudden death of her pilot father.
[1. Family life—Fiction. 2. Orphans—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.L5385Me 1997 [Fic]—dc20 96-27655
Square Fish logo designed by Filomena Tuosto
First Square Fish Edition: September 2008

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