Published: January 1, 1973

2nd book in the Time Quintet

(Wikipedia)

Cosmic evil is connected with evil on a cellular level, and the children along with some new friends go within Charles Wallace in order to save his mitochondria (and the fictive entities living within them, the farandolae) from the un-namers—the Echthroi (which, incidentally, is the Koine Greek word for "enemy"). The Echthroi are powerful, evil creatures whose desire is to X (i.e. extinguish, unname) creation. Author Calvin Miller writes that the Echthroi are "demonic spirits" that "are always stalking good, making the whole sick, the entire partial, the holy eroded by the contaminated."[3] The Echthroi reappear in A Swiftly Tilting Planet, trying to prevent Charles Wallace from reaching key moments in history in a bid to save the world from nuclear destruction.

Space and time hold little meaning within the Time Quintet 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 but also Meg and a farandola named Sporos. Meg learns to see beyond superficial impressions, and 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 is a Namer. Namers work in the universe to love and Name parts of Creation, and help them to be themselves. This is the exact opposite of what Echthroi do in their Xing or unNaming.

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. In her book The Rock That Is Higher, L'Engle mentions this concept, and the interdependency that is at the heart of A Wind in the Door:

The title is based on a quote from Le Morte d'Arthur.

Madeleine L'Engle Camp 

(/ˈlɛŋɡəl/; November 29, 1918 – September 6, 2007)

was an American writer of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and young adult fiction, including A Wrinkle in Time and its sequels: A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, Many Waters, and An Acceptable Time. Her works reflect both her Christian faith and her strong interest in science.

Jacqueline Goldfinger (she/they) is a playwright and librettist based in Philadelphia who works nationally and internationally. She is an Affiliated Artist at New Georges, National New Play Network, and The Lark Playwrights Center.

She won the Yale Drama Prize, Smith Prize, Generations Award, Brown Martin Award, Barrymore Award, OPERA America Discovery Award (with Composer Melissa Dunphy), and Philadelphia Critics Award. Her plays have been on The Kilroy’s List. She’s been a Finalist for the LAMBDA Literary Award, Beth Henley Award, Woodward-Newman Award, Royer Award, and received a Special Citation from the Terrence McNally Award.

Her works have been developed and produced with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, BBC 3 Radio (UK), Perseverance Theatre, Contemporary American Theatre Festival, Voces8 (UK), Disquiet (Portugal), Gate Theatre (New Zealand), New Georges, Oberlin Opera, St. Martin in the Fields (UK), McCarter Theatre, Hangar Theatre, Theatre Exile, Unicorn Theatre, Resonance Works, Capitol Stage, Azuka Theatre, Wilma Theatre, Arden Theatre, The National Theater (UK), Philadelphia Theatre Company, People’s Light and Theatre Company, Amuse Singers, Vortex Rep, Women’s Theatre Festival, NYC International Fringe, and others.

Her work has been supported by Yaddo, Opera America, National Endowment for the Arts, Millay Colony, The Orchard Project, The Lark’s Playwrights Week, New Georges’ Audrey Residency, Drama League’s First Stage Residency, Granada Artist Residency at UC Davis, Emerson Stage’s Playwright Residency, Playwrights Collective at Florida Studio Theatre, Sewanee Writers Conference Dakin and Williams Fellowships, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, Independence Foundation Fellowship in the Arts, among others.

She teaches playwriting and dramaturgy workshops around the country including at the Interlochen Center for the Arts, National Theatre Institute at The O’Neill, and MFA Program in Theatre at UC Davis. She began her career in theater as a dramaturg, educator, and literary manager at companies including La Jolla Playhouse, The Old Globe, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Native Voices, and Arden Theatre.

In 2017, she Founded Page By Page, an online resource for playwrights, which now continues under the Executive Directorship of Rachel Lynett.

In 2021, her book Playwriting with Purpose: A Guide and Workbook for New Playwrights was published by Routledge.

Her new book, Writing Adaptations and Translations for the Stage, co-authored by Allison Horsley will be released in 2022-23. (ORCID ID: 0000-0002-8498-2835)

She holds a MFA in Screen and Television Writing from USC, BA in English Literature and Theatre from Agnes Scott College. She has trained with Paula Vogel, Branden Jacob-Jenkins, JT Rogers, and Dan O’Brien. She is currently pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing with a concentration in Poetry from Goddard College, and is a first year member of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop.

Representation: The Gurman Agency

Cheribum: a winged angelic being described in biblical tradition as attending on God. It is represented in ancient Middle Eastern art as a lion or bull with eagles' wings and a human face, and regarded in traditional Christian angelology as an angel of the second highest order of the ninefold celestial hierarchy. The cherubim are the most frequently occurring heavenly creature in the Hebrew Bible, with the Hebrew word appearing 91 times.[4] The first occurrence is in the Book of Genesis 3:24. Despite these many references, the role of the cherubim is never explicitly elucidated.[5] While Hebrew tradition must have conceived of the cherubim as guardians of the Garden of Eden[2] (in which they guard the way to the Tree of life),

Sporos : Sporus was one of the four companions on the emperor's last journey  (side note: castrated by Nero); a minute, typically one-celled, reproductive unit capable of giving rise to a new individual without sexual fusion, characteristic of lower plants, fungi, and protozoans.

- Circadian rhythm: A circadian rhythm is a natural, internal process that regulates the sleep-wake cycle and repeats roughly every 24 hours. It can refer to any biological process that displays an endogenous, entrainable oscillation of about 24 hours.