The Arm of the Starfish The title of this book is The Arm of the Starfish. It was written by Madeleine L’Engle. She named it The Arm of the Starfish, because Dr. O’Keefe is studying starfish. Humans and Starfish are closely related and Dr. O’Keefe is seeing if because starfish can regrow limbs maybe humans can too. The setting of this story is in many places in Portugal. Some of the places in Portugal are Lisbon, Madrid, and Gaea. It is set in the present time and during the summer. The protagonist or main character of this book is Adam Eddington. He is sixteen, near seventeen