A Ring of Endless Light: The Austin Family Chronicles, Book 4 (Paperback)

Complicating this already trying time for Vicky are three young men. Leo, a lifelong friend of her family, wants more from her than the companionship and sympathy she is ready to offer him. Zachary, a severely troubled and wealthy youth who was her first real boyfriend, follows her to Seven Bay Island and alternately charms and frightens her with attentions that her family would prefer she didn't accept. And Adam, her older brother John's friend from MIT, assumes an important place in her life when he discovers that Vicky's extraordinary (and unexpected, and unexplained) ability to communicate with dolphins can transform his summer project at the Island's oceanographic research station.

While Vicky's romantic and other feelings for this trio are central to the story, this is not a conventional tale of young love in which the girl's choice of suitor is the whole point. Vicky Austin is a complete person, and not about to treat romance at age 15 as the be-all and end-all of her life so far; nor as the defining influence on her future. Until now she has been something of a misfit, with her physician father and scientifically inclined older brother and younger sister tech-talking over her head. This summer, finally, "dreamy Vicky" who often slips away to write verses comes into her own. Which, as so often happens in real life, can only occur as she is tested by life. And by death, and by her responses to both.

L'Engle at her finest! Although I'm of grandmotherly years now, "A Wrinkle in Time" was among my own girlhood's defining books. I must now go out and find the rest of the Austin books. This writer's works have something to offer any reader, not just youthful ones.

--Nina M. Osier, author of "Love, Jimmy: A Maine Veteran's Longest Battle"

One thing I really wish is that Disney hadn't ruined this story by turning it into a 'save the dolphins' teen flick, totally changing the themes and content of the story. If you have seen the t.v series please read the book as well before making up your mind about the story.

When I re-read this book, I was astonished at how moving it was. The writing style is superb and the language is like poetry. The pace of the book, while it may be a little slow to younger readers, truly makes you lose yourself in the story. I believe this is a must-read for any age.