An Acceptable Time

An Acceptable Time is a 1989 novel by Madeleine L'Engle. It is her fourth book about Polyhymnia O'Keefe, called Polly, who is the daughter of A Wrinkle in Time's Meg Murry. It was republished in 2007 as part of a "Time Quintet' to which it is linked thematically. An Acceptable Time is the only SFnal novel about Polly, and follows on from the more realistic A House Like A Lotus.

It is set during a trip Polly takes to her grandparent's farm, where she stumbles through a time gate that takes her back almost 3000 years. In it she meets the People of the Wind, druids who mistake her for a goddess. She gets caught up in a conflict between them and another tribal group, exacerbated by the presence of Zachary Gray, who almost got Polly killed in A House Like A Lotus, and who despite his protestations of change, may yet again.

Editions

• Laurel-Leaf, 1990, ISBN 978-0440208143
• Square Fish, 2007, ISBN 978-0312368586
• Square Fish, 2007, ISBN 978-0312368623

Further Reading

• Revena's An Acceptable Time - Acceptable Themes? at The Hathor Legacy
• Michelle's Everything I Know About Children's Literature I Learned From Reading It at I Am A Tree