Review: An Acceptable Time

An Acceptable Time by Madeleine L'Engle
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A solid time travel story, set in L'Engle's familiar world, which is always a pleasure to return to. (When did the older Murrays get so cranky, though?)

Polly O'Keefe, Meg and Calvin's daughter, jumps back 3,000 years and gets entangled in a water dispute between two tribes on opposite sides of a lake. It's basically a way for L'Engle to pare down her intriguing morality play by honing it to its primal core without the distractions of modern technology or overwhelming population. Sometimes it errs on the side of didacticism, but the emotions feel real and strong, and I was never less than fully engaged in this little fable of sharing, jealousy, love, loyalty, and community versus self-interest.

Of particular satisfaction was the separation of morality from modern religion, connecting it back to its primeval animist and collectivist roots.