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The Joys of Love | 
 enlarge | Author: Madeleine L'engle
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Category: Book
List Price: $16.95
Buy New: $9.46
You Save: $7.49 (44%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 31817
Media: Hardcover
Reading Level: Young Adult
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 272
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.7 x 1
ISBN: 0374338701
EAN: 9780374338701
ASIN: 0374338701
Publication Date: April 29, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
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. And 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. Moving and romantic, this coming-of-age story was written during the 1940s. As revealed in an introduction by the author’s granddaughter Lena 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.”
Book Description
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. And 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. Moving and romantic, this coming-of-age story was written during the 1940s. As revealed in an introduction by the author’s granddaughter Lena 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.”
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| Customer Reviews:
Courtesy of Teens Read Too June 13, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Elizabeth has big dreams of becoming an actress. She loves everything about the theater and feels born to be a part of it. Her aunt, who has raised her, wants a more conventional life and disapproves of Elizabeth's ambitions to become an actress.
Taking place over a mere four days, Elizabeth is forced to learn a lot about herself, about her career ambitions, and about growing up. Her aunt disapproves of the lifestyle Elizabeth has adopted while working for a theater company, and has withdrawn the money she was paying for Elizabeth's room and board. This leaves Elizabeth to confront just what compromises she will make in her life to realize her dream.
The melodramatic title aside, this is a lovely book. It's set in 1946, with mentions of Automats, and with characters speaking a diction reminiscent of an earlier time. It's a detailed look into the lives of young men and women trying to find themselves by playing other characters. Elizabeth doesn't just have to stand up to her aunt, she also has to learn about the kind of love that comes along with growing up.
The characters are well drawn, and L'Engle deftly draws the reader in to the stories of the minor characters as well as the major ones. It is an example in character study, with a satisfying ending that does not feel trite or contrived.
Reviewed by: Marie Robinson
Delightful find -- a must for L'Engle fans May 22, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
How happy I was to stumble upon this book by one of my favorite authors! This new book by the recently deceased L'Engle is in fact an early work only recently published.
Elizabeth Jerrold, an aspiring actress, is spending the summer of 1946 working as a theatre apprentice. Despite the disapproval of her Aunt Harriet, Elizabeth is determined to learn all she can, especially during the visit of the great actress Valborg Anderson. But it is through her relationships with friendly, energetic Jane, loyal and understanding Ben, and the handsome and exciting Kurt that Elizabeth will learn the most important lessons, not just about the theatre, but about life and love.
The story is sweet and a joy to read. While not as polished as L'Engle's later work, you can see some of the same themes and types of characters that run through many of her best novels. And, as the introduction suggests, through Elizabeth we get a glimpse of Madeleine as a young woman, which for any L'Engle fan is a treat not to be missed.
 ... May 22, 2008
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
Somehow and without much fuss a new Madeleine L'Engle novel has been published. I was most ecstatic when I found out about it several days ago and quickly read it. Apparently, according to the preface, it is an older book she wrote but publishers didn't have any interest in. So she gave it to her grandkids to be something for them. Well, a couple of years ago one of them re-discovers the book and was of the opinion that interest in L'Engle has reached a point where there might now be interest.
As a result The Joys of Love reads more like L'Engle's earlier material than not, which is definitely a good thing. It is more straightforward than (for example) A Small Rain, with the steady setting more reminiscent of Camilla.
The best thing about this book, though, is the fact that it is a real, live rediscovered novel. Too often when an author dies a publisher slaps together some of their unfinished writings (look at Douglas Adams, for example) and while it is nice to have those, they leave you aching for something more substantial... something which the author themselves would have wanted us to read. And with The Joys of Love we get that.
Definitely recommended for those who love L'Engle beyond her Time Quartet.
A sweet story May 13, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
This book is a sweet, well written story. It is the perfect sort of book for a rainy day or a sick day when you want something entertaining and pleasant, but you do not want to tax your brain. I enjoyed it greatly.
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