Dennys and Sandy Murry are the somewhat normal twin brothers of Meg and Charles Wallace Murry. When they disturb something in their mother's lab and are swept away from New England's winter into, what they assume to be, an alien world. The twins encounter humans, much shorter than the two teens, a miniature mammoth, unicorns that are both there and not quite there at the same time, and a water prospector named Japheth.
Japheth offers to take Sandy and Dennys to the nearest oasis, but on the journey both boys get heatstroke, and the unicorn Dennys rides runs off. Sandy remains with Japheth and his grandfather Lamech.
Dennys reappears, but is thrown into the garbage pile at the oasis. Even worse off, he is taken to the tent of the patriarch who he discovers is Lamech's son and Japheth's father, Noah.
The twins realize they've been transported into Biblical times, to the time of Noah, just before the great flood. The improbable creatures that tend to the boys, the pelican, scarab beetle, and lion are merely the animal hosts of seraphim who are unusually aware of the science of modern Earth. Their counterparts, the nephilim are distrustful of the twins and their presence in Noah's world and try to discover the purpose behind their visit.
Sandy and Dennys live at the oasis for about a year, becoming more independent of each other, and learning the complexity of the world around them and the complexity of themselves both as a twin brothers, and as individuals. When the time comes for the great flood, the boys are left behind, yet they still help build the Ark and leave their mark on Noah's family.
Many Waters is the story of how Sandy and Dennys forge their own identities separate from the unit that everyone else views them as. Their travel through the Biblical world mirrors the journey made by their sister and brother in the previous three novels of the series and informs each boy's transformation. The ties to Bible stories are woven through out L'Engle's tale in an obvious, yet understated manner that stimulates thought. Readers both young and old can follow the evolution of Dennys and Sandy as they face adversity, find and lose love, and stick to their values, despite danger and drama. An ideal audience would be early teens facing the challenges of high school.
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