FOR MORE, GO TO READERSDIGEST.CO.UK/CULTURE JULY 2019 • 127A Wrinkle in Time BY MADELEINE L’ENGLE
A Wrinkle in Time was my introduction to science fiction. When
I picked it up at our school library, I had never read anything
like it before. The protagonist, Meg Murry, is an ordinary girl
thrust into extraordinary circumstances when her beloved
father goes missing on another planet. My own father was an
aerospace engineer who helped send astronauts into outer
space, so I felt a special connection to Meg and her journey
across the universe to bring her dad home.Cry, the Beloved Country BY ALAN PATON
Cry, the Beloved Country is about a man and his son—and
another man and his son—and how poverty, racism, and
violence shape their lives. While it might be hard to believe that a
book that takes on such difficult topics could be uplifting, it is. It’s
full of characters who insist on answering the worst of human
nature with the best of it.Mighty Be Our Powers BY LEYMAH GBOWEE
In 2011, Leymah Gbowee won the Nobel Peace Prize for her
role in organising a women’s movement that helped end
Liberia’s civil war. She opens her unforgettable memoir by
declaring “This is not a traditional war story... You have not
heard it before, because it’s an African woman’s story, and
our stories rarely are told.” Her book is about the power of
women coming together—and the important work of
bringing them together. nBooks
THAT CHANGED MY LIFEMelinda Gates is a businesswoman and co-founder
of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with her
husband, Bill Gates. Her new book, The Moment of
Lift, is out now, published by Pan Macmillan