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Madeleine L'Engle
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Two-Part Invention: The Story of a Marriage (The Crosswicks Journal, Book 4) Paperback – October 18, 1989

by Madeleine L'Engle (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 234 ratings
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The story of a marriage of true minds and spirits--a brilliant writer's tribute to lasting love.

Previous page
  1. Book 4 of 4
    The Crosswicks Journals
  2. Print length
    240 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    HarperOne
  5. Publication date
    October 18, 1989
  6. Dimensions
    5.31 x 0.55 x 8 inches
  7. ISBN-10
    0062505017
  8. ISBN-13
    978-0062505019
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"A vivid and touching chronicle." -- Chicago Tribune

About the Author

Madeline 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."

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ HarperOne; Reprint edition (October 18, 1989)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 240 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0062505017
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0062505019
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 6.6 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.31 x 0.55 x 8 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 234 ratings

About the author

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Madeleine L'Engle

Madeleine L'Engle

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Madeleine was born on November 29th, 1918, and spent her formative years in New York City. Instead of her school work, she found that she would much rather be writing stories, poems and journals for herself, which was reflected in her grades (not the best). However, she was not discouraged.

At age 12, she moved to the French Alps with her parents and went to an English boarding school where, thankfully, her passion for writing continued to grow. She flourished during her high school years back in the United States at Ashley Hall in Charleston, South Carolina, vacationing with her mother in a rambling old beach cottage on a beautiful stretch of Florida Beach.

She went to Smith College and studied English with some wonderful teachers as she read the classics and continued her own creative writing. She graduated with honors and moved into a Greenwich Village apartment in New York. She worked in the theater, where Equity union pay and a flexible schedule afforded her the time to write! She published her first two novels during these years—A Small Rain and Ilsa—before meeting Hugh Franklin, her future husband, when she was an understudy in Anton Chekov’s The Cherry Orchard. They married during The Joyous Season.

She had a baby girl and kept on writing, eventually moving to Connecticut to raise the family away from the city in a small dairy farm village with more cows than people. They bought a dead general store, and brought it to life for 9 years. They moved back to the city with three children, and Hugh revitalized his professional acting career.

As the years passed and the children grew, Madeleine continued to write and Hugh to act, and they to enjoy each other and life. Madeleine began her association with the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, where she was the librarian and maintained an office for more than thirty years. After Hugh’s death in 1986, it was her writing and lecturing that kept her going. She lived through the 20th century and into the 21st and wrote over 60 books. She enjoyed being with her friends, her children, her grandchildren, and her great grandchildren.

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
234 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Colleen McGill-Grenville
5.0 out of 5 stars Very Pleased
Reviewed in the United States on September 2, 2023
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I am so happy with my beautiful book, thank you so much to the Seller.
One person found this helpful
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Katie Murphy
5.0 out of 5 stars Tea with Madeleine
Reviewed in the United States on June 22, 2022
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Sit for a while with a pot of tea as Madeleine shares with you the story of her life. Listen as the young girl works through her childhood, grows into a young adult, and finds her nest in an old home in a farm and an apartment in New York when not traveling for a play. Listen as she finds the rhythm of her life with her soulmate, their children, and their chosen family. There is no sugar coating or ghastly wailing, but the path that winds, climbs, descends, and continuously leads through the years. I shall miss this quiet time with Madeleine.
3 people found this helpful
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Donna Hill
4.0 out of 5 stars A Touching Story of Love and Loss
Reviewed in the United States on September 9, 2016
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This story interested me most when L'Engle was writing about medical ordeals--pregnancy, childbirth, illness, and death. By the end of the story I was crying. I really identified with her beloved husband Hugh's poignant story. There were very few details about the marriage itself--a tidbit here and there which made me understand how their marriage lasted forty years. I would have been more interested in the story of how her husband's acting career progressed if I'd been familiar with his work. But I didn't know him--never even saw him on a soap opera. So parts were a bit mundane for me, but it was a pleasant book and I found that I was looking forward to returning to it each evening before bed. It did make me fall asleep many times, but on the plus side it was a story which exuded warmth, peace, and love. Even when her husband was very ill, she managed to enjoy both her moments with him and her moments alone and with her family. L'Engle aspires to "being in the moment," and she is successful much of the time.
15 people found this helpful
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Kindle Customerpolly
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful!
Reviewed in the United States on June 3, 2022
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Such a true and wonderful story about 40 years of marriage! A must read for people who are experiencing this!
One person found this helpful
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Kathryn M. Young
5.0 out of 5 stars Forty Years was not Enough
Reviewed in the United States on December 8, 2016
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L'Engle writes so beautifully. Her passions are evident, but are depicted with such clarity and calmness. Her marriage to the
acclaimed actor Hugh Franklin was filled with highs and lows, and ended with an extremely painful, wrenching death to, basically,
cancer. I don't know when I've been more moved by descriptions of hospital horrors. Reading these pages feels somewhat voyeuristic,
because L'Engle reveals so much of her inner self, but she is Sharing, and taking us with her on an agonizing journey.
Beautiful book.
11 people found this helpful
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Sandy R.
5.0 out of 5 stars Lovely story
Reviewed in the United States on January 27, 2014
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I had no idea that Madeleine L'Engle was such a wonderful Christian woman. I read a Wrinkle in Time many years ago as a child and loved it, but was unaware of its spiritual implications. I just might want to go back and read it again, with my grandchildren. This story, Two-Par Invention, is a wonderful love story of the ups and downs and triumphs in marriage.
10 people found this helpful
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Timothy J. Bazzett
3.0 out of 5 stars Sad, but ultimately rather formless, redundant
Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2013
TWO-PART INVENTION: THE STORY OF A MARRIAGE is only the second L'Engle book I have read. Regrettably, I didn't like this one much more than I did the other Crosswicks journal. A very touchy and difficult subject, death and dying, so I hesitate to say much about L'Engle's documentation of that of her husband, Hugh Franklin, who died of complications from bladder cancer. The book itself, however, seemed formless, meandering and redundant, as L'Engle tried to tell the story of their rather unconventional forty-year marriage even as she still struggled with the enormity of her loss.

A tough subject to tackle, no matter who is telling the story. I felt deep sympathy for L'Engle, but wondered if she should have published this book at all. Anne Roiphe's EPILOGUE or Joyce Carol Oates's A WIDOW'S STORY were both, I think, better-written books on the same subject.

- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER
2 people found this helpful
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Brenda Wideman
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful insights to marriage!
Reviewed in the United States on January 4, 2014
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I read this book for a class on "Family Systems". I found it to be one of the most inspiring insights to a successful marriage I had ever read. "Know thyself and love your spouse for who they are" is the theme. Everyone who is in a life-long marriage or partnership should be required to read it.
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Top reviews from other countries

Rosemary J Luff
4.0 out of 5 stars Moving and thoughtful.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 20, 2017
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An account of an unusual but stunningly successful marriage.The house they turned into their family home plays a large part in the story.Anyone who values relationships and sees them as part of a spiritual life would enjoy this book
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Desney King
5.0 out of 5 stars An intimate, vulnerable memoir that has stood the test of time
Reviewed in Australia on January 21, 2023
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As a child, I read and loved Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time and its sequels.
It's only in recent years that I discovered her adult novels and other writings (I believe she published 60 books, so there are more treats in store for me).
Born in late 1918, L'Engle was both a product of that era and a woman born way ahead of her time; a devout yet exceptionally open-minded Christian who was also fascinated by physics; a dedicated, talented writer, sometime actor and passionate teacher; a wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother as well as being a loyal friend to many.
Two-Part Intervention is the intimate memoir she wrote during the year her beloved husband of 40 years, Hugh, was dying.
It's raw and honest - written from a place of vulnerability, hope, prayer and grief - and saturated with love. An extraordinary book that has not only stood the test of time (it was first published in 1988) but also has much to teach readers and writers now.
It's left me enriched and with a lot to think about regarding spirituality, the craft of writing, and above all, the complex nature of love.
Highly recommended.
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ellee
2.0 out of 5 stars Really not great
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 26, 2022
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This is wandering and v dated. Needed more editing, the transitions in time are poorly done and there’s no substantial detail to their actual marriage or why it was successful or their careers either. I mean she seems to have moved to New York and immediately published a book! How? Yet was apparently v naive where she did not recognise someone as being drunk? There's loads of stuff on roles her husband played and his amazing blue eyes, but I've never heard of him at all! All v idealistically presented, it just doesn't feel very authentic or deliver much insight.

Then on top of that, there’s a v heavy dose of religion and her faith and musings on God. Maybe that’s an aspect of Ms L’Enge that’s well known, but I’d never heard of her and it’s not highlighted in the blurb at all. I mean stuff like whether getting cancer is the product of sin, the power of prayer, people making prayerful decisions etc etc.

Overall, I found the whole thing a bit tiresome and would not recommend.
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Aunt Annie
2.0 out of 5 stars Too much religion
Reviewed in Australia on July 12, 2017
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I was surprised that this book wasn't better structured. It really didn't work well, wandering backwards and forwards in time. And the heavy doses of God philosophy got me down. Disappointing.
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