A Wind in the Door: Encyclopedia - A Wind in the Door

A Wind in the Door

A Wind in the Door is a 1973 novel by Madeleine L'Engle. It is a sequel to A Wrinkle in Time.

In this story, science and spirituality are intertwined. The story follows the adventures of the Murry children and Calvin O'Keefe, whom we first met in A Wrinkle in Time. Cosmic evil is connected with evil on a cellular level, and the children along with some new friends go within the mitochondria of Charles Wallace in order to save his mitochondria (and the fictive entities living within them, the farandolae) from the un-namers -- the echthroi. The echthroi are powerful, evil creatures whose desire is to X Creation.

A memorable new character, a cherubim named Proginoskes, who seems to resemble a Seraph, becomes a particular friend of Meg's, and she learns to appreciate and embrace inner beauty and strength. Much of the communication between characters in this book involves a process called kything. This process is similar to telepathy and empathic abilities combined. Meg also learns that she has something in common with Proginoskes; she is a Namer. Namers work in the universe to love and name parts of Creation. This is the exact opposite of what echthroi do in their X-ing or un-naming.

Space and time hold little meaning within the Time series. In several instances, we find Meg and other characters frustrated with their new friends and confused about these concepts. However, according to the mythical creatures that are introduced, these concepts are limiting and unimportant. This is the key concept to understanding why Charles' sickness could be so important. His sickness, the ailment of his mitochondria is just as important as the fate of a planet elsewhere in the universe because each part of creation, great or small, is important.

Like all of L'Engle's books, the power of love is again a force to be reckoned with as it helps save several characters -- not just Charles Wallace.

A Wind in the Door - Christian content

The premise of naming and counting is inspired by passages in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke which say that God has numbered every hair on our heads and that God is aware of every sparrow that falls.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "A Wind in the Door", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki