<P> The book was reissued by Square Fish in trade and mass market paperback formats in May 2007, along with the rest of the Time Quintet . This new edition includes a previously unpublished interview with L'Engle as well as the text of her Newbery Medal acceptance speech . </P> <P> Thirteen - year - old Meg Murry's classmates and teachers see her as a troublesome and stubborn student . Her family knows that she is emotionally immature but also sees her capable of doing great things . The family includes her scientist mother Katherine, her missing scientist father Alexander, the twins Sandy and Dennys, and her five - year - old brother Charles Wallace Murry, a child genius who can sometimes read Meg's mind . </P> <P> The book begins with the line "It was a dark and stormy night," an allusion to the opening words in Edward Bulwer - Lytton's 1830 novel Paul Clifford . Unable to sleep during a thunderstorm, Meg descends from her attic room to find Charles Wallace sitting at the table drinking milk and eating bread and jam . They are then joined by their mother, and are visited by their new eccentric neighbor, Mrs Whatsit . In the course of conversation, Mrs Whatsit casually mentions there is such a thing as a tesseract, which causes Katherine to almost faint . </P> <P> The next morning, Meg discovers that the term refers to a scientific concept her father was working on before his mysterious disappearance . The following afternoon, Meg and Charles Wallace encounter Meg's schoolmate, Calvin O'Keefe, a high - school junior who, although he is a "big man on campus", considers himself a misfit as well . They then go to visit an old haunted house near town which Charles Wallace already knows is the home of Mrs Whatsit . There they encounter two companions of Mrs Whatsit's, the equally strange Mrs Who and the unseen voice of Mrs Which . She promises that she and her friends will help Meg find and rescue her father . In the evening, Charles Wallace declares it is time for them to go on their mission to save their father . This is accompanied by the appearance of the third member of the "Mrs Who", Mrs Which, who appears to materialize out of nothing . </P>

Short summary of a wrinkle in time book