A Live Coal In The Sea [Paperback]

Madeleine L'Engle (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 11, 1997

Madeleine L'Engle's first adult novel in four years -- now in paperback! With 23,000 copies sold since May 1996, this "haunting domestic drama" (Publishers Weekly) examines the powers of faith and mercy in one family's confrontation with a legacy of evil.

Best known for A Wrinkle in Time -- the children's classic that has sold more than 2 million copies since 1962 -- Madeleine L'Engle is as adept at exploring faith and human experience as she is at spinning fascinating, fantastic tales. Now this masterful storyteller blends her two passions and offers an engrossing new story to delight her devoted audience.

When Dr. Camilla Dickinson's teenage granddaughter confronts her with the disquieting question of whether Camilla is, in fact, her grandmother, long-kept secrets rise to the surface to test the faith, love and loyalty of the Xanthakos family. This skillful, gripping tale shuttles between past and troubled present, providing clues to a multigenerational mystery -- clues that begin to focus on Camilla's son, the deeply troubled TV idol Artaxias, and on Camilla's mother, the irresistibly beautiful and adulterous Rose. Though riveting and psychologically complex, A Live Coal in the Sea is "infused with the warmth of love and mercy" (Booklist), showcasing the keen eye and deep compassion that have made L'Engle one of this century's premier writers on faith and its place in human experience.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Red hair acts as a red flag in this haunting domestic drama, signaling an end to secrecy in the far-flung Xanthakos family. When flame-haired college student Raffi Xanthakos demands to know if professor Camilla Dickinson is really her grandmother, Camilla guides Raffi along the branches of a family tree afflicted with a peculiar blight. Raffi's father is Artaxias, aka Taxi, a famous soap-opera star who behaves imperiously toward his wife and daughter. How is Taxi actually related to Camilla, and to his sister, Frankie? L'Engle, the venerated author of more than 40 novels for children and adults (Certain Women), delves into the past to present a compassionate portrait of Camilla and her husband, Mac Xanthakos, as a young couple beset on every side by inherited troubles. Mac is an Episcopalian priest; Camilla is an astronomer. This marriage of religion and science grows and flourishes with special help from Mac's wise mother, Olivia. An ill-timed accident claims the life of Camilla's own mother, and she and Mac find themselves obliged to raise the damaged child, Taxi, alongside Frankie. As Camilla gradually tells Raffi what she knows, and as Raffi does some snooping of her own to find her paternal grandfather, sifting through generations of half-told truths and desperate silences, both emerge from their journeys purged of weights that have burdened their hearts. If L'Engle's dialogue is sometimes board-stiff, lending this work the psychological depth of a YA novel for grown-ups, she still demonstrates a sure touch with her theme of redemption, rescuing all her characters from their separate sorrows so they can forgive and be forgiven.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Best known for her children's books, notably the classic A Wrinkle in Time (1962), L'Engle has also produced adult novels, including A Severed Wasp (LJ 2/1/83). Her newest is a family drama centered around astronomy professor Camilla Dickinson. In smoothly blended present and flashback story lines, we learn all about the skeletons in the family closet. When 18-year-old granddaughter Raffi asks Camilla why her father?Camilla's son Taxi, a soap opera star?claims she's not really her grandmother, the complicated true story starts to spill out. Camilla's young, pretty mother, Rose, cheated on her husband. Camilla's husband, Macarios Wanthakos, an Episcopal priest and son of a bishop, had his own dark family stories. Dysfunctions abound, and the anticlimactic answer to the puzzle of Taxi's parentage mars the ending, but this will fit well into popular reading collections.?Ann H. Fisher, Radford P.L., Va.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: HarperOne (April 11, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060652861
• ISBN-13: 978-0060652869
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #475,205 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Madeleine L'Engle, the popular author of many books for children and adults, has interspersed her writing and teaching career with raising three children, maintaining an apartment in New York and a farmhouse of charming confusion which is called "Crosswicks."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another fine L'Engle novel, June 11, 2000

By 

Robert P. Beveridge "xterminal" (Lakewood, OH) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Live Coal In The Sea (Paperback)

Everyone knows Madeleine L'Engle, right? Admit it. You've all read A Wrinkle in Time, and you all thought it was cool. Most of you probably went on to read the other three books in the series. (Some of you probably sought out the other books in the two series that crossed over with the Time books, and you don't need to read this review, because you've probably already read this book.)

For the rest of you, who wondered what L'Engle had been doing since then... A Live Coal in the Sea is her forty-second book, at least the forty-second listed in the "Books by Madelieine L'Engle" page. A well-stocked bookstore will have books by L'Engle in fiction, young adult, drama, poetry, religion, and at least two or three other categories. I know this because while a bookstore manager I actually attempted to order a couple of everything she'd written. It was impossible. I exceeded the weekly budget. Nowadays, or at least in 1996 when this book came out, L'Engle is/was the writer in residence at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. I'm not sure how one gets such a job, but I'll bet a good part of it has to do with writing a book that's been translated into every major (and many minor) language on Earth and has probably sold almost as many copies as the Bible.

So, the main question should probably be, has she lost any of that power in the last thirty-odd years since A Wrinkle in Time made its unassuming debut? And if not, why aren't her books still selling like hotcakes? The answer to the second question has to do with the changing priorities in the publishing business far more than it has to do with L'Engle, and the answer ot the first question is "not really." _A Live Coal in the Sea_ is a simple, warmhearted, moving family-type novel that has about as much in common with most books that fit that description as The Day the Earth Stood Still has in common with Plan Nine from Outer Space.

The book centers on Camilla Xanthakos, an astronomy professor at a small university in New York, and her granddaughter Raffi, a freshman at the same institution. One evening Raffi comes to Camilla's house and asks, "are you or are you not my grandmother?," thanks to a comment from her glamorous, overstressed, childish father. The book slides between Camilla's reminiscences of the past, and how they affect Camilla, Raffi, and their family and friends in the present. In other words, it's another heritage mystery. But it's handled in such a different way than The Quincunx (for one point, all the prevarication about whether to tell who about what is handled offstage, which is why this book is only slightly over three hundred pages) that, despite the fact that I was reading the two in tandem, I could draw no connections between them other than the most basic plot point.

Another thing that sets L'Engle apart from her contemporaries, and this is far more true now than it used to be, is her use of Christianity in her work. Contemporary Christian novels are far more likely to deal with God-as-concept rather than the human side of the religion; that's why it's so refreshing to go back and read Mauriac, or L'Engle's stuff, instead of trying to choke down these "War in Heaven" style novels that have little, if anything, to do with the human struggle to reconcile the existence of some kind of supreme being with what humanity faces on a day-to-day basis. And the Xanthakos family is faced with a whole bunch of it, from every direction, including inside (you don't have a scientist in the family without having the family faith questioned), and yet still everyone is able to reconcile the faith to the fallacy, and in a logical manner to boot. Questioning faithful types will probably find some affirmation in here; nonbelievers who have always wondered how thiking Christians reconcile things (especially those nonbelievers who have never been able to get good answers to some questions) may find answers in here. I did.

So the plot's good, the characterizations are fine, the theme is downright excellent, it's gonna get five stars, right? Nope. It doesn't quite hit lifechanger level, and the ending is something I'm still trying to figure out; to say more would consitute spoilage. Still, it's certainly a worthwhile book to pick up, as is anything by Madeleine L'Engle; the lady's still turning out better material than most of what's out there.

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply a FANTASTIC novel - one of the best I've ever read!, November 3, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: A Live Coal In The Sea (Paperback)

If you want to read an absorbing, moving and surprising story that you could read over and over again, reach for Madeleine L'Engle's "A Live Coal in the Sea." L'Engle is one of this century's greatest living writers. She always writes about meaningful and varied topics, and this novel is full of them. The story is shocking at times, and yes, there are sexual themes that are deeply disturbing, but this is an INCREDIBLY WELL-WRITTEN book. As a college graduate from the University of California in English and American literature, I have read plenty of books. I truly feel that writing doesn't get much better than this. L'Engle creates characters who are realistic and who have profound concepts to teach yet are fallible people. The protagonists within the story are amazing role models who inspire and disappoint us. "A Live Coal in the Sea" is a sequel to L'Engle's novel "Camilla" and it just makes the experience richer if you've read that before reading this one, but not crucial. I have to laugh after reading the other reviews here that pick apart small "flaws" within this story - YOU try writing something like this and then we'll talk! I think that all novels, whether they are written by Charles Dickens or by Jackie Collins, have something to pick apart if you are looking for that. If you want a story that will affect you and you want to read one of the most magnificent writers of our time, choose "A Live Coal in the Sea." I have read over 2/3 of L'Engles books (she has written many!!!) and besides "A Ring of Endless Light" and "A Wrinkle in Time" it is one of the best of her books. Whether or not you're L'Engle fan, you will most likely become one after reading this tale of true mercy, growth, and love.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Did Madeline L'Engle Really Write This Book?, April 29, 2005

By 

Christine Lang (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Live Coal In The Sea (Paperback)

First, a disclaimer to all of the L'Engle fans out there: I, too, adore the writings of Madeline L'Engle. She is one of my favorite two or three authors. I loved the Wrinkle series and her other books for children and young adults, and I was thrilled when I discovered that she also has fabulous adult novels (I've had previous bad experiences with favorite childhood authors who wrote horrible adult books).

I may have given this book three stars, but the fact that this mediocre work came from a woman I consider to be one of the 20th century's most talented and accomplished authors disappointed me tremendously and added to my dislike of the book. I have to admit that I was shocked with all of the five-star reviews granted by readers here at Amazon.

So what's my beef, you may wonder? The writing is abrupt; the language is too common, repetitive and full of clichés; the story is melodramatic and sensational.

I love L'Engle's ability to weave a story through time and places and people in a way that makes me barely realize that I am reading a book rather than watching the world she creates. She can make each page flow together, each part of the story line seem a completely natural progression. She takes complex circumstances and characters and paints a picture with her beautiful, smooth, sophisticated and yet simple choice of words and language.

In "A Live Coal in the Sea," L'Engle puts none of these unique and exquisite talents to use. With this book, it felt like she was trying to force the story and its moral into my head and heart with a sledgehammer. With her other books, it feels like she surrounds my head and my heart with a warm, colorful, intense, soft cloud of air, and by the end of the book the air has warmed me and filled my lungs and become part of me.

Yes, the message of mercy is good and the support for the value of that human trait is established again and again... and again. Yes, the story is original and entertaining and one that you can both relate to and daydream about on some level. But this book is not up to L'Engle's standards, and (especially since I had been saving it for vacation) I was miserable with how much I disliked it.

I wanted to abandon this book about two-thirds of the way through (but couldn't bring myself to do it), whereas with her other books I didn't want them to end (thinking of her "The Small Rain" and "A Severed Wasp," specifically).

My recommendation is to skip this book and delve into the dozens of other masterpieces L'Engle has given us. She remains one of my favorite and most admired authors.