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Moving and romantic, this coming-of-age story was written during the 1940s. As revealed in an introduction by the author's granddaughter Léna Roy, the protagonist Elizabeth is close to an autobiographical portrait of L'Engle herself as a young woman-"vibrant, vulnerable, and yearning for love and all that life has to offer."
During the summer of 1946, twenty-year-old Elizabeth is doing what she has dreamed of since she was a little girl: working in the theatre. Elizabeth is passionate about her work and determined to learn all she can at the summer theatre company on the sea where she is an apprentice actress. She's never felt so alive. Soon she finds another passion: Kurt Canitz, the dashing young director of the company, and the first man Elizabeth's ever kissed who has really meant something to her. Then Elizabeth's perfect summer is profoundly shaken when Kurt turns out not to be the kind of man she thought he was.
During the summer of 1946, twenty-year-old Elizabeth is doing what she has dreamed of since she was a little girl: working in the theatre. Elizabeth is passionate about her work and determined to learn all she can at the summer theatre company on the sea where she is an apprentice actress. She's never felt so alive. Soon she finds another passion: Kurt Canitz, the dashing young director of the company, and the first man Elizabeth's ever kissed who has really meant something to her. Then Elizabeth's perfect summer is profoundly shaken when Kurt turns out not to be the kind of man she thought he was.
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Reviews
"L'Engle completists will be interested in this early (1940s) and heretofore unpublished novel about a young and idealistic actress's apprenticeship in summer theater. The writing is earnest and emotional."
The Horn Book
"The Joys of Love [is] a story of first love and the romance of the theater. Written in the early '40s by Madeleine L'Engle (author of A Wrinkle in Time), who died last year, the book has been published for the first time thanks to the efforts of her granddaughters."
Parade magazine, a Kids Summer Reading 2008 pick
"Ardent fans [will be]. . . grateful for a last chance to dip into something new by the author."
The Christian Science Monitor