Can love survive the flood? A literary journey through faith and physics.

Art · Published 17 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: In Madeleine L'Engle's 1986 novel, twin brothers are teleported into the biblical story of Noah's Ark. To return home, they must navigate a desert oasis where unicorns traverse time, seraphim heal the sick, and the boys must overcome their own scientific minds to believe in the supernatural.

Many Waters is a central piece of Madeleine L'Engle's Time Quintet (or Time Quartet), a series that weaves together science fiction, fantasy, and Christian theology. The narrative follows Sandy and Dennys Murry, twin brothers from the family featured in A Wrinkle in Time. The story takes place in a chronological gap between A Wind in the Door and A Swiftly Tilting Planet, focusing on the twins' emotional coming of age during a year spent in a desert oasis.

The twins are transported to a world where the biblical narrative of Noah's Ark is actively unfolding. They encounter a variety of supernatural beings, including the nephilim—a race of giants born from the mating of mortal women and angels—and the seraphim, a heavenly race of angels. The setting is described as a place where the "gradual Fall" of humanity is still visible; unlike the modern world, people in this oasis can still converse intimately with God, and mythical creatures like manticores and unicorns are tangible realities.

A core conflict of the novel involves the twins' struggle as "empirically minded" individuals to accept these supernatural elements. They must overcome their reliance on physical evidence to believe in "virtual unicorns," which are the only beings capable of transporting them back to their own time. The book also explores complex themes of love and sacrifice, drawing its title from the Song of Solomon 8:7, which suggests that "many waters cannot quench love." While the story contains elements of suspense and humor, it also draws subtle analogies between the biblical Flood and the possibility of nuclear destruction.

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