Okay, so how many times have I read the four books that proceeds this and still managed to be completely unaware of the existence of this one? Picked from my sister's bookshelf and devoured over a quick excursion home for Christmas, I could never quite shake the feeling that this was a bit of a step down from the other four. Polly just isn't nearly as compelling a character as her mother or her uncles (though she does grow on you), Alex could very well be L'Engle's most relentlessly tiresome creation and the alternate world stumbled into isn't quite as vivid as her others, but after a few chapters in I could hardly put it down (which is rather inconvenient when there are family gatherings to attend). And there is something deeply satisfying about circularities of time and connections between all things, especially around Christmastime.

"What has happened here, in this time, may have some effect we do not know and cannot even suspect, here in my time, or perhaps in yours. Let us not try to understand the pattern, but rejoice in its beauty."