A House Like a Lotus by Madeleine L'Engle

First published: 1984

Subjects: Coming-of-age, death, emotions, and friendship

Type of work: Novel

Type of plot: Psychological realism

Time of work: The late twentieth century

Recommended Ages: 15-18

Locale: Benne Seed Island, South Carolina; Athens, Greece; and Osia Theola, Cyprus

Principal Characters:

• Polly O’Keefe, an intelligent sixteen-year-old girl
• Maximiliana “Max” Horne, an older woman who befriends Polly
• Zachary Gray, a young man who spends several days with Polly in Athens
• Mr. O’Keefe, and
• Mrs. O’Keefe, Polly’s parents
• Ursula Heschel, Max’s lover
• Xan, and
• Kate, Polly’s younger brother and cousin
• Queron “Renny” Renier, an intern at the local hospital, whom Polly dates
• Omio Heno, ,
• Virginia Porcher, ,
• Norine Fong Mar, ,
• Krhis Ghose, ,
• Frank Rowan, ,
• Milcah Adah Xenda, and
• Bashemath Odega, teachers or students at the conference in Cyprus
• Sandy, and
• Rhea Murry, Polly’s uncle and aunt

Form and Content

Like many of Madeleine L’Engle’s novels for young people, A House Like a Lotus is written in the first person, as though it were a series of journal entries or an account told to a friend. There are no chapters as such, but the story alternates between the past and the present. A House Like a Lotus begins with Polly O’Keefe writing in her journal as she sits in Constitution Square in Athens, Greece. Within the first few pages, L’Engle draws the reader into the story, hinting that Polly is hurting emotionally, but not specifying the problem. The narration jumps backward to Polly’s journey to Athens, backward again to the day that Max asked her if she would like to spend three weeks as a gofer at a conference in Cyprus, and finally backward once more to the day that Polly was introduced to Max. From this beginning, the narration alternates between Polly’s activities in Greece and, later, in Osia Theola, Cyprus, and focuses on the story of her friendship with Max.

Polly meets Maximiliana “Max” Horne at Christmas, when her Uncle Sandy introduces her to his old friend, who has come to live for the winter in her family mansion, Beau Allaire, fifteen miles from Polly’s home on Benne Seed Island. Polly and Max quickly become friends; the older woman needs the companionship that Polly provides, and Polly needs the intellectual stimulus that Max is able to give. Polly quickly becomes the child that Max could not have, and, in return, Polly begins to idolize Max. At first, no one questions why Max and her lover, Ursula, a neurosurgeon, would choose to spend their winter on an isolated island in South Carolina, but Polly eventually realizes that it is because Max is dying.

This knowledge is very difficult for Polly to cope with, as she has come to depend on Max. She feels isolated at school, where her younger brother and her cousin, Kate, are popular, and Max provides the friendship and attention that she craves. One night, however, when Polly is staying at Beau Allaire because Ursula is away, Max, drunk and crazy with pain and fear, tries to seduce Polly. Soon after this incident, Polly flies to Greece on her way to Osia Theola, Cyprus, where Max has arranged for her to work as a gofer at a conference.

In Athens, Polly meets Zachary Gray, a “spectacular-looking” young man who takes an interest in Polly and spends several days with her before she flies to Cyprus. Zachary, although handsome, intelligent, and rich, is pessimistic and negative about humanity, whereas Polly is optimistic and positive. Polly’s conversations with Zachary allow her to review her friendship with Max as she tries to come to terms with events. Polly knows that she must try to forgive Max, who has acted completely out of character, but she feels as though “a splinter of ice had lodged deep in my heart.”

It is not until Polly has met the teachers at the conference in Osia Theola, who have all had terrible personal experiences yet have come through them with love and compassion, that she is able to begin the process of forgiveness. Zachary follows her to Osia Theola, and, when she has a few hours off, takes her kayaking in the sea and nearly ends up drowning her. When Polly realizes that she is able to accept and forgive this selfish young man, she also realizes that she can accept and forgive Max and even move back into a love for her.

Critical Context

Readers of Madeleine L’Engle’s other works, both for children and adults, will recognize many of the characters in A House Like a Lotus. Polly features in three other novels: The Arm of the Starfish (1965), Dragons in the Waters (1976), and An Acceptable Time (1989). Polly’s parents, Calvin and Meg O’Keefe, were the main characters in L’Engle’s Newbery Medal-winning novel A Wrinkle in Time (1962). Zachary Gray also appears in An Acceptable Time and in two of L’Engle’s novels about another teenage protagonist, Vicky Austin. Several of the more minor characters also feature in previous novels. This recurrence is evidence of L’Engle’s belief that people and events are interconnected and interdependent; what one person does, or does not do, affects others in ways that perhaps can neither be explained nor even imagined, but that are nevertheless crucially important.

Readers will also recognize many of the themes that recur in L’Engle’s work. One of her first books for children, And Both Were Young (republished 1983), attempted to deal with the death of a parent and had to be rewritten at the publisher’s request because it was believed that the subject was too difficult or upsetting for young people. Her novel A Ring of Endless Light (1980), a Newbery Honor Book, also deals with death in a sensitive way. What L’Engle is really concerned with, however, is life and how to live it most fully. Max, despite her illness and impending death, is vibrant, and she tells Polly that “no one is too insignificant to make a difference. Whenever you get the chance, choose life.” L’Engle is convinced of the importance of each individual in the scheme of things, and her novels are concerned with the idea of interdependence—what one person chooses to do makes a difference and can affect the entire universe.

Bibliography

Bloom, Harold, ed. Women Writers of Children’s Literature. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 1998.

Chase, Carole F. Suncatcher: A Study of Madeleine L’Engle and Her Writing. Philadelphia: Innisfree Press, 1998.

Hein, Rolland. Christian Mythmakers: C. S. Lewis, Madeleine L’Engle, J. R. Tolkien, George MacDonald, G. K. Chesterton, Charles Williams, Dante Alighieri, John Bunyan, Walter Wangerin, Robert Siegel, and Hannah Hurnard. Chicago: Cornerstone Press, 2002.

Hettinga, Donald R. Presenting Madeleine L’Engle. New York: Twayne, 1993.

Shaw, Luci, ed. The Swiftly Tilting Worlds of Madeleine L’Engle. Wheaton, Ill.: Harold Shaw, 1998.