Madeleine L'Engle, author of "A Wrinkle in Time" and other tales woven with themes of science, religion, and love and read by millions of children and adults, has died in Connecticut. She was 88.

She died Thursday in hospice after being ill for several months, Jennifer Doerr, a publicity manager for Farrar, Straus and Giroux, said on Friday.

L'Engle's novel "A Wrinkle in Time," about a teenage girl named Meg Murray and her search for her father on a faraway planet, sold more than 6 million copies and won awards including the American Library Association's Newbery Medal for best American children's book. The book was rejected by more than 25 publishers before it was published in 1962.

Subsequent novels "A Wind in the Door" and a "Swiftly Tilting Planet" formed the Time Trilogy, a series known for a blend of fairy tale, science fiction and family themes.

In addition to children's books, she wrote plays, poetry and a series of autobiographical works including an account of the illness and death of her husband of 40 years, actor Hugh Franklin.

For decades, L'Engle was also the librarian of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Manhattan.

A new book by L'Engle for young adults, "The Joys of Love," will be published next year.