A Live Coal in the Sea, written by Madeleine L'Engle and published in 1996, is the sequel to Camilla Dickinson (also published as Camilla), one of L'Engle's earliest novels. While Camilla Dickinson was written for a young adult audience, A Live Coal in the Sea is an adult novel. It continues the story of Camilla Dickinson as a college student, her marriage, her family and the problems that follow. The story is told by an aged Camilla to her granddaughter, who is seeking answers about her family. The title comes from a line in William Langland's Piers Plowman: "All the wickedness in the world that man might do or say was no more to the mercy of God than a live coal dropped in the sea." Source: Wikipedia (en)