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Becoming Mrs. Lewis
In a most improbable friendship, she found love. In a world where women were silenced, she found her voice.
From New York Times bestselling author Patti Callahan comes an exquisite novel of Joy Davidman, the woman C. S. Lewis called “my whole world.” When poet and writer Joy Davidman began writing letters to C. S. Lewis—known as Jack—she was looking for spiritual answers, not love. Love, after all, wasn’t holding together her crumbling marriage. Everything about New Yorker Joy seemed ill-matched for an Oxford don and the beloved writer of Narnia, yet their minds bonded over their letters. Embarking on the adventure of her life, Joy traveled from America to England and back again, facing heartbreak and poverty, discovering friendship and faith, and against all odds, finding a love that even the threat of death couldn’t destroy.
In this masterful exploration of one of the greatest love stories of modern times, we meet a brilliant writer, a fiercely independent mother, and a passionate woman who changed the life of this respected author and inspired books that still enchant us and change us. Joy lived at a time when women weren’t meant to have a voice—and yet her love for Jack gave them both voices they didn’t know they had.
At once a fascinating historical novel and a glimpse into a writer’s life, Becoming Mrs. Lewis is above all a love story—a love of literature and ideas and a love between a husband and wife that, in the end, was not impossible at all.
From New York Times bestselling author Patti Callahan comes an exquisite novel of Joy Davidman, the woman C. S. Lewis called “my whole world.” When poet and writer Joy Davidman began writing letters to C. S. Lewis—known as Jack—she was looking for spiritual answers, not love. Love, after all, wasn’t holding together her crumbling marriage. Everything about New Yorker Joy seemed ill-matched for an Oxford don and the beloved writer of Narnia, yet their minds bonded over their letters. Embarking on the adventure of her life, Joy traveled from America to England and back again, facing heartbreak and poverty, discovering friendship and faith, and against all odds, finding a love that even the threat of death couldn’t destroy.
In this masterful exploration of one of the greatest love stories of modern times, we meet a brilliant writer, a fiercely independent mother, and a passionate woman who changed the life of this respected author and inspired books that still enchant us and change us. Joy lived at a time when women weren’t meant to have a voice—and yet her love for Jack gave them both voices they didn’t know they had.
At once a fascinating historical novel and a glimpse into a writer’s life, Becoming Mrs. Lewis is above all a love story—a love of literature and ideas and a love between a husband and wife that, in the end, was not impossible at all.
435 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 2, 2018
About the author
Patti Callahan Henry
36 books4,969 followersPatti Callahan Henry is a New York Times, Globe and Mail, and USA Today bestselling author of sixteen novels, including her newest, The Secret Book of Flora Lea. She’s also a podcast host of original content for her novels, Surviving Savannah and Becoming Mrs. Lewis.
She is the recipient of The Christy Award “Book of the Year”; The Harper Lee Distinguished Writer of the Year and the Alabama Library Association Book of the Year for Becoming Mrs. Lewis. She is the co-host and co-creator of the popular weekly online Friends and Fiction live web show and podcast. Patti also was a contributor to the monthly life lesson essay column for Parade Magazine. She’s published in numerous anthologies, articles, and short story collections, including an Audible Original about Florence Nightingale, titled Wild Swan narrated by the Tony Award winner, Cynthia Erivo.
A full-time author, mother of three, and grandmother of two, she lives in Mountain Brook, Alabama with her husband, Pat Henry.
She is the recipient of The Christy Award “Book of the Year”; The Harper Lee Distinguished Writer of the Year and the Alabama Library Association Book of the Year for Becoming Mrs. Lewis. She is the co-host and co-creator of the popular weekly online Friends and Fiction live web show and podcast. Patti also was a contributor to the monthly life lesson essay column for Parade Magazine. She’s published in numerous anthologies, articles, and short story collections, including an Audible Original about Florence Nightingale, titled Wild Swan narrated by the Tony Award winner, Cynthia Erivo.
A full-time author, mother of three, and grandmother of two, she lives in Mountain Brook, Alabama with her husband, Pat Henry.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 6,084 reviews
April 15, 2018
Pulled me in, kept me up, left me joyful. Need I say more?
In case you aren't yet persuaded to snatch up this beautiful book for your reading stack, let me add that Patti Callahan's writing is at times so breathtaking, as a writer, I paused to reread a turn of phrase. As magical as the writing is, though, the novel's true magic is the revelation of the man behind the stories we all know and the woman, the outsider, who captured his heart. Joy Davidman and C.S. Lewis were an unlikely match, separated by an ocean, an age difference, ghosts of the past, and the general complications of life, and yet love has the power to conquer all. The telling of their story is long overdue.
Read this book. It will remind you that we are, each of us, so much more than the masks we wear.
In case you aren't yet persuaded to snatch up this beautiful book for your reading stack, let me add that Patti Callahan's writing is at times so breathtaking, as a writer, I paused to reread a turn of phrase. As magical as the writing is, though, the novel's true magic is the revelation of the man behind the stories we all know and the woman, the outsider, who captured his heart. Joy Davidman and C.S. Lewis were an unlikely match, separated by an ocean, an age difference, ghosts of the past, and the general complications of life, and yet love has the power to conquer all. The telling of their story is long overdue.
Read this book. It will remind you that we are, each of us, so much more than the masks we wear.
October 1, 2018
This is some kind of special! 5 stars! ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
Patti Callahan (Henry) is one of my favorite authors. How do I know this? I own all of her books and a few are “saved” unread for the book apocalypse. You know, I’m well-prepared for that. When I read that she was writing historical fiction for the first time, and that it also involved C.S. Lewis, I was all in.
Joy Davidman is the main character. The book begins with her life as a wife and mother, and I could sense right away that something is not right in her marriage. Her husband is moody and drinks too much, and while there is palpable love between them, there is also a distance, a disconnect.
Joy and her husband are both writers, and after a terrifying experience involving her husband, Joy begins to explore and test her faith. In doing so, she begins writing about faith on behalf of she and her husband in letters of correspondence to C.S. Lewis (Jack). The two begin writing back and forth, exploring and deeply connecting through their words to each other and over their spiritual beliefs.
In a leap of faith, Joy travels to England from America and into the arms of her Jack. I’m in awe of the inspiring love that developed between the two, so remarkable in fact, that Joy is somewhat of a muse for Jack, sparking works that delight us to this day.
While it would be easy to judge Joy for some of her decisions regarding her first marriage, instead I am stirred by her fierce independence and willingness to risk it all for love.
Becoming Mrs. Lewis is not only the love story of Joy and Jack. It’s also their ode to literature. Fans of C.S. Lewis, the historical fiction genre, strong female characters, compelling love stories, and books about books are sure to revel in Becoming Mrs. Lewis.
Not only did Callahan author her first work of historical fiction, she owned it. She was meant to write this genre all along!
Thank you to Thomas Nelson for the opportunity to read and review this ARC. All opinions are my own.
My reviews can also be found on my blog with pictures 🤓: www.jennifertarheelreader.com
Patti Callahan (Henry) is one of my favorite authors. How do I know this? I own all of her books and a few are “saved” unread for the book apocalypse. You know, I’m well-prepared for that. When I read that she was writing historical fiction for the first time, and that it also involved C.S. Lewis, I was all in.
Joy Davidman is the main character. The book begins with her life as a wife and mother, and I could sense right away that something is not right in her marriage. Her husband is moody and drinks too much, and while there is palpable love between them, there is also a distance, a disconnect.
Joy and her husband are both writers, and after a terrifying experience involving her husband, Joy begins to explore and test her faith. In doing so, she begins writing about faith on behalf of she and her husband in letters of correspondence to C.S. Lewis (Jack). The two begin writing back and forth, exploring and deeply connecting through their words to each other and over their spiritual beliefs.
In a leap of faith, Joy travels to England from America and into the arms of her Jack. I’m in awe of the inspiring love that developed between the two, so remarkable in fact, that Joy is somewhat of a muse for Jack, sparking works that delight us to this day.
While it would be easy to judge Joy for some of her decisions regarding her first marriage, instead I am stirred by her fierce independence and willingness to risk it all for love.
Becoming Mrs. Lewis is not only the love story of Joy and Jack. It’s also their ode to literature. Fans of C.S. Lewis, the historical fiction genre, strong female characters, compelling love stories, and books about books are sure to revel in Becoming Mrs. Lewis.
Not only did Callahan author her first work of historical fiction, she owned it. She was meant to write this genre all along!
Thank you to Thomas Nelson for the opportunity to read and review this ARC. All opinions are my own.
My reviews can also be found on my blog with pictures 🤓: www.jennifertarheelreader.com
October 4, 2018
I have to say that this book took me completely by surprise. Honestly, I think sometimes when I approach a book about real people, in this case C.S.Lewis and Joy Davidman, I cannot help but ask myself "So which one is going to be the jerk?" But Patti Callahan unfolds the story of the meeting of the minds as much as much as that of the heart. People, this book is #relationshipgoals, the type our mothers and fathers hope we will encounter as we travel the road of love. Seventeen years in age difference, "Jack" and Joy correspond first to discuss their own search for a relationship with religion, which eventually leads to a relationship based on mutual respect and friendship that as the years go by does lead to more. Upon completion and this might seem a bit silly, but Becoming Mrs Lewis is definitely a book that made me feel like for just a few hours, Joy and C.S. Lewis once more walked the earth. Their story lands this book safely in my favorites of 2018
Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review
Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review
March 8, 2019
I'm in the minority on my rating of this book, so I'll just say it was not my cup of tea. Had I not been reading it for my book club I would have DNF'd the whole thing. I was frustrated and bored because it felt as though the author couldn't decide whether this was a biographical novel, religious fiction, or chick lit, and the combination just did not work for me.
November 28, 2018
This is going to be less a review than just myself explaining how I was all over the place while reading this novel. I think most people have heard of C. S. Lewis and his Narnia, but of his only wife Joy, very little. Was what drew me to this book. I liked it, I didn't like it, found it repetitive at times, interesting at others, grew frustrated with all the spirituality, philosophizing, the tone was so melancholy, not much joy to be found within. So conflicting, a good look at a woman who wanted more than her time period generally allowed a woman, but so much complaining, searching.
Well written, a woman few knew much about, a love affair that seemed somewhat unreal but was, and a spiritual searching for snswers from a most unlikely source. As i said I was all over the place as I was reading.
ARC from Netgalley
Well written, a woman few knew much about, a love affair that seemed somewhat unreal but was, and a spiritual searching for snswers from a most unlikely source. As i said I was all over the place as I was reading.
ARC from Netgalley
March 1, 2021
I love the backstory on this: when a friend asked Patti Henry what she would write about if she could write about anything: the answer came at once: Joy Davidman. Years later, this book is the result of that conversation.
In this biographical novel, Henry tells how American poet and mother Joy Davidman became the wife of C.S. Lewis. While I thought I was familiar with the story, I learned something new on every page, and polished this off in an enjoyable two days.
In this biographical novel, Henry tells how American poet and mother Joy Davidman became the wife of C.S. Lewis. While I thought I was familiar with the story, I learned something new on every page, and polished this off in an enjoyable two days.
December 19, 2022
Brutal. I’m actually disappointed and finally decided to stop reading it at page 320. Can’t take the drivel anymore!
The italicized thought of Joy mid page 320 “or take me in your arms and set me down on that bed and make love to me”. I actually eye rolled. I wonder if either Lewis or Joy would want things like that included. Doubt it.
My main issue, besides the mediocre writing, which made it easy to skim big portions at a time, was with Joy’s portrayal. She’s selfish, promiscuous, and even childish in her thoughts and conversations regarding her parents. I found her non relatable as a mother. The author continues to drag you along with Joy’s feelings towards Jack to the point of annoyance. Ultimately it’s just distracting.
All while I was reading I kept thinking that this story doesn’t do their story justice. I much preferred Douglas Gresham’s book about Jack, where he tastefully and beautifully describes their relationship. Go read that instead.
The italicized thought of Joy mid page 320 “or take me in your arms and set me down on that bed and make love to me”. I actually eye rolled. I wonder if either Lewis or Joy would want things like that included. Doubt it.
My main issue, besides the mediocre writing, which made it easy to skim big portions at a time, was with Joy’s portrayal. She’s selfish, promiscuous, and even childish in her thoughts and conversations regarding her parents. I found her non relatable as a mother. The author continues to drag you along with Joy’s feelings towards Jack to the point of annoyance. Ultimately it’s just distracting.
All while I was reading I kept thinking that this story doesn’t do their story justice. I much preferred Douglas Gresham’s book about Jack, where he tastefully and beautifully describes their relationship. Go read that instead.
July 10, 2022
This beautifully written book details the growing friendship of Joy David and CS Lewis that culminated with their marriage.
In the early 1950s, Joy was unhappily married to Bill, an alcoholic, unsuccessful writer. She was also a writer. Born Jewish, but an atheist, and later even a communist, she found God one night waiting for Bill to come home. She proceeds to continue to struggle to keep the marriage together as some sort of Christian duty. She strikes up a correspondence with CS Lewis which leads to a great friendship. Suffering from bad health, she heads to England to recover and meet him. In doing so, she leaves her husband and two boys in the care of her cousin, a newly divorced woman. It amazed me that Joy had no idea where this would lead. And, to be honest, I found it rather disingenuous that she was so dumbstruck when her husband wrote to her about his love for her cousin.
It’s hard to know how well a work of fiction captures a real person. Certainly Joy didn’t fit the expectations for a proper lady in her day. She wasn’t at all content to just be a mother and wife. Written in the first person from Joy’s POV, I often found myself wondering if she was being truthfully portrayed. That becomes even more of a question when the Author’s Notes state that all their letters were destroyed. Though Callahan did have access to all their personal papers and Joy’s unpublished works that are housed at Wheaton College. She also worked with Douglas Gresham, Joy’s son.
There were minor gaps in the writing. Joy consistently laments that she has no money, not enough to buy a return ticket to the States. Then two sentences later, she’s talking about a new dress she bought and toys for her sons. But overall, the book captures her religious faith, her bravery and her deep love for Jack.
This was a selection for my book club.
In the early 1950s, Joy was unhappily married to Bill, an alcoholic, unsuccessful writer. She was also a writer. Born Jewish, but an atheist, and later even a communist, she found God one night waiting for Bill to come home. She proceeds to continue to struggle to keep the marriage together as some sort of Christian duty. She strikes up a correspondence with CS Lewis which leads to a great friendship. Suffering from bad health, she heads to England to recover and meet him. In doing so, she leaves her husband and two boys in the care of her cousin, a newly divorced woman. It amazed me that Joy had no idea where this would lead. And, to be honest, I found it rather disingenuous that she was so dumbstruck when her husband wrote to her about his love for her cousin.
It’s hard to know how well a work of fiction captures a real person. Certainly Joy didn’t fit the expectations for a proper lady in her day. She wasn’t at all content to just be a mother and wife. Written in the first person from Joy’s POV, I often found myself wondering if she was being truthfully portrayed. That becomes even more of a question when the Author’s Notes state that all their letters were destroyed. Though Callahan did have access to all their personal papers and Joy’s unpublished works that are housed at Wheaton College. She also worked with Douglas Gresham, Joy’s son.
There were minor gaps in the writing. Joy consistently laments that she has no money, not enough to buy a return ticket to the States. Then two sentences later, she’s talking about a new dress she bought and toys for her sons. But overall, the book captures her religious faith, her bravery and her deep love for Jack.
This was a selection for my book club.
February 18, 2022
Becoming Mrs. Lewis by Patti Callahan is a 2018 Thomas Nelson publication.
This book is the fictionalized version of the love story between Joy Davidman and C.S. Lewis. I have been meaning to read this book for ages and have been wildly curious to see how Callahan approached the material.
While I did like the story, and appreciated the way Joy’s particular challenges were presented, I struggled to stay invested.
The relationship is fascinating, their initial correspondence very insightful, especially from Joy’s perspective as a woman trapped by poor health, a bad marriage, and the longing to write and pursue her career as a poet and writer.
I am familiar with C.S. Lewis, like most people, but I never studied his personal life. I was aware, vaguely, there was a tragic love story, but I knew nothing about Joy. Her story is a bit melancholy, no?
I am so happy she found her spiritual/Christian calling, which is quite a feat considering her background. I am also happy she found Lewis- who was a beacon to her as she navigated unfamiliar territory. I am also happy she found comfort and love after the years she spent in an unhappy and abusive relationship.
I’m sorry though, that she never enjoyed the fullness of marriage with the man she loved, which, in my opinion was unnecessary, and I’m sorry her health was so fragile, and she died so young. Her characterization here, though, is terribly somber. The story is flat- bland, even, and I had to force myself to keep going at times. A book I thought would be inspirational, only left me feeling bereft, instead.
I was SO positive I was going to love this book, and am disappointed it didn’t grab me, as it has so many other people. I do have “Once Upon a Wardrobe” on my Kindle and will read it shortly. I’m sure I will have better luck with that one.
Overall, I am a little let-down I didn’t have the experience I was hoping for with this book- but I did like the book enough to give it a three- star rating- mostly based on the quality of the writing and that I learned a lot about Joy’s life and found her journey to be unique and interesting, if very sad.
3 stars
This book is the fictionalized version of the love story between Joy Davidman and C.S. Lewis. I have been meaning to read this book for ages and have been wildly curious to see how Callahan approached the material.
While I did like the story, and appreciated the way Joy’s particular challenges were presented, I struggled to stay invested.
The relationship is fascinating, their initial correspondence very insightful, especially from Joy’s perspective as a woman trapped by poor health, a bad marriage, and the longing to write and pursue her career as a poet and writer.
I am familiar with C.S. Lewis, like most people, but I never studied his personal life. I was aware, vaguely, there was a tragic love story, but I knew nothing about Joy. Her story is a bit melancholy, no?
I am so happy she found her spiritual/Christian calling, which is quite a feat considering her background. I am also happy she found Lewis- who was a beacon to her as she navigated unfamiliar territory. I am also happy she found comfort and love after the years she spent in an unhappy and abusive relationship.
I’m sorry though, that she never enjoyed the fullness of marriage with the man she loved, which, in my opinion was unnecessary, and I’m sorry her health was so fragile, and she died so young. Her characterization here, though, is terribly somber. The story is flat- bland, even, and I had to force myself to keep going at times. A book I thought would be inspirational, only left me feeling bereft, instead.
I was SO positive I was going to love this book, and am disappointed it didn’t grab me, as it has so many other people. I do have “Once Upon a Wardrobe” on my Kindle and will read it shortly. I’m sure I will have better luck with that one.
Overall, I am a little let-down I didn’t have the experience I was hoping for with this book- but I did like the book enough to give it a three- star rating- mostly based on the quality of the writing and that I learned a lot about Joy’s life and found her journey to be unique and interesting, if very sad.
3 stars
July 3, 2019
I first read an excerpt of this stunning new book and longed for more, so was ecstatic to receive a full review copy from Thomas Nelson-Fiction. Felt like Christmas had come early, which indeed it had, as BECOMING MRS. LEWIS is everything I’d hoped for and more.
Author Patti Callahan is a writer’s writer and a reader’s dream. Her prose is lush, her characterizations true, and her fictionalized account is thrilling as she retells the towering love story between C.S. Lewis, the 20th Century’s greatest Christian apologist, and Joy Davidman, Brooklyn divorcee and Jewish covert to Christianity.
BECOMING MRS. LEWIS recounts the romance between these two brilliant, flawed people ... one the Oxford Don who called himself “the most reluctant covert in all England” the night he came to faith, and the other a New York writer once married to an alcoholic, desperate for hope in a life of poverty and despair.
The impact of their love still resonates, through Lewis’s “A Grief Observed” written after losing his wife to cancer soon after marriage ... and now through the resplendent BECOMING MRS. LEWIS. 5 Glorious Stars!
Thanks to Patti Callahan, Thomas Nelson-Fiction and NetGalley for the advance copy. Opinions are fully mine.
Author Patti Callahan is a writer’s writer and a reader’s dream. Her prose is lush, her characterizations true, and her fictionalized account is thrilling as she retells the towering love story between C.S. Lewis, the 20th Century’s greatest Christian apologist, and Joy Davidman, Brooklyn divorcee and Jewish covert to Christianity.
BECOMING MRS. LEWIS recounts the romance between these two brilliant, flawed people ... one the Oxford Don who called himself “the most reluctant covert in all England” the night he came to faith, and the other a New York writer once married to an alcoholic, desperate for hope in a life of poverty and despair.
The impact of their love still resonates, through Lewis’s “A Grief Observed” written after losing his wife to cancer soon after marriage ... and now through the resplendent BECOMING MRS. LEWIS. 5 Glorious Stars!
Thanks to Patti Callahan, Thomas Nelson-Fiction and NetGalley for the advance copy. Opinions are fully mine.
November 22, 2018
How does one write a review for a book like this, a book that is quite possibly the best I've read this year? How can a review even begin to give this book the proper justice?
This book has taken a piece of my heart with it when I finished it, never to be returned!
I'll admit to having never read a C.S. Lewis book and never having heard of his wife, Joy.
This book isn't just a mundane book about their life and how they met, it started out by her contacting him by letter, by the way. No, this book has a depth which may be deeper than the ocean, nor is it one dimensional. This book has so many layers, like an onion waiting to be peeled and discovered. When you think you have it all down and understand their lives separately and together you will discover your understanding is just at it's beginning. C.S. Lewis was a man who enjoyed the simple life, a good (fag) cigarette, a whiskey and simple friendships. He did not have a need for romance, he had his books and his writing. he had more of a need for a deep friendship with Joy than anything else. He came to depend on her in many aspects of his book work. An unlikely friendship that developed into true love. This book develops all the truth,tenderness and triumph you could expect in this time period, the 1950's. Joy Davidman was a woman who had a voice when women were expected not to.
Pub Date 02 Oct 2018
I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson--FICTION through NetGalley. Thank you. All opinions expressed are my own.
This book has taken a piece of my heart with it when I finished it, never to be returned!
I'll admit to having never read a C.S. Lewis book and never having heard of his wife, Joy.
This book isn't just a mundane book about their life and how they met, it started out by her contacting him by letter, by the way. No, this book has a depth which may be deeper than the ocean, nor is it one dimensional. This book has so many layers, like an onion waiting to be peeled and discovered. When you think you have it all down and understand their lives separately and together you will discover your understanding is just at it's beginning. C.S. Lewis was a man who enjoyed the simple life, a good (fag) cigarette, a whiskey and simple friendships. He did not have a need for romance, he had his books and his writing. he had more of a need for a deep friendship with Joy than anything else. He came to depend on her in many aspects of his book work. An unlikely friendship that developed into true love. This book develops all the truth,tenderness and triumph you could expect in this time period, the 1950's. Joy Davidman was a woman who had a voice when women were expected not to.
Pub Date 02 Oct 2018
I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson--FICTION through NetGalley. Thank you. All opinions expressed are my own.
January 7, 2019
Started off ok, but this book is severely lacking in one thing: Jesus. This smacks of someone who only understands the motions of religion and the forced human tradition, rather than actually knowing Jesus.
I feel as this has been heavily researched, but I have to severely question Joy--and even C.S. Lewis's--actual Christianity if this book is entirely true. The characters represented here do not resonate with actual Christians who have read any of the Bible, rather than just sort of skimmed through it.
Perhaps our culture's obsession with Lewis as a reformed theologian has forced him into an image reflective of the current culture's beliefs. Everyone today seems to make an idol of him, and any simple searching about the man only leads to such praises.
The main thing that bothered me is that Joy and Jack both sought the "approval" of God through the Church of England, as if the church can rightly say yes or no to what God, Himself, approves or disapproves. And if the Church of England withholds their approval on a marriage, than it is not sanctified. As if there's this magical, spiritual fairy dust that floats about these "sacred" things. It says several times in the Bible explicitly not to marry a divorced woman, yet Lewis does. Why Joy should find any issue with the Bible conflicting with her divorce is beyond me because if her husband was cheating on her, she was due a divorce if she so demanded.
What I saw in Joy was nothing but a selfish woman who led her own brand of spirituality through her own will, then sprinkled a little "God" talk over it, rather than putting Jesus first. Her life did not read here at all as if she first sought God's will for her life. She left her children and husband (even though he was a heel) to go have fun in England by herself while looking to flirt with Lewis on the way, while she was still married. I did not see a woman who was attempting to work on her marriage, although this could just be because of the author's representation, and trusting in God to work through her marriage or through her divorce. Everything is Joy-driven, not God-driven. She was also far too obsessed with her own career and being literary over her own children. She was drunk in love with the idea of England, Oxford, literary idols, alcohol (even though she was so harmed by alcoholism), and tobacco. Lewis was just a representation of all of those things, as well as a better father. A lot of her issues she brought on her own head, and she never wants to admit that.
I wish I hadn't read this book because I'm not sure whether or not the Joy represented here is true to character--though I fear it is--or if she is representing, rather, what image the author wants to put down in paper. The author in the note is far too caring about these women muses being recognized behind the "great" men of literary history that I see a lot of Joy's characterization in the author's own character in her note. I feel, in part, that Joy may have fallen victim to today's feminist culture that demands recognition; however, I do believe Lewis has fallen victim to idolization in our churches today.
In this book, C.S. Lewis was Joy's Jesus. She followed him as she should've followed Jesus. She made an idol of her love for Lewis and worshiped only at the alter of "love" rather than Jesus. She put everything before Jesus, and it shows terribly through this novel. I do hope she wasn't really like this in real life.
Also, what need did the author have to include such explicit bits? Was Joy's only real demand sex? Because it certainly felt like it. Her husband acted in the same way, and he is villainized, but Joy held up on a pillar. If a man acts the way Joy did in today's culture, they are shamed! But Joy, here, is praised? What fallacy! The whole thing read like a harlequin romance or a soap opera.
I feel as this has been heavily researched, but I have to severely question Joy--and even C.S. Lewis's--actual Christianity if this book is entirely true. The characters represented here do not resonate with actual Christians who have read any of the Bible, rather than just sort of skimmed through it.
Perhaps our culture's obsession with Lewis as a reformed theologian has forced him into an image reflective of the current culture's beliefs. Everyone today seems to make an idol of him, and any simple searching about the man only leads to such praises.
The main thing that bothered me is that Joy and Jack both sought the "approval" of God through the Church of England, as if the church can rightly say yes or no to what God, Himself, approves or disapproves. And if the Church of England withholds their approval on a marriage, than it is not sanctified. As if there's this magical, spiritual fairy dust that floats about these "sacred" things. It says several times in the Bible explicitly not to marry a divorced woman, yet Lewis does. Why Joy should find any issue with the Bible conflicting with her divorce is beyond me because if her husband was cheating on her, she was due a divorce if she so demanded.
What I saw in Joy was nothing but a selfish woman who led her own brand of spirituality through her own will, then sprinkled a little "God" talk over it, rather than putting Jesus first. Her life did not read here at all as if she first sought God's will for her life. She left her children and husband (even though he was a heel) to go have fun in England by herself while looking to flirt with Lewis on the way, while she was still married. I did not see a woman who was attempting to work on her marriage, although this could just be because of the author's representation, and trusting in God to work through her marriage or through her divorce. Everything is Joy-driven, not God-driven. She was also far too obsessed with her own career and being literary over her own children. She was drunk in love with the idea of England, Oxford, literary idols, alcohol (even though she was so harmed by alcoholism), and tobacco. Lewis was just a representation of all of those things, as well as a better father. A lot of her issues she brought on her own head, and she never wants to admit that.
I wish I hadn't read this book because I'm not sure whether or not the Joy represented here is true to character--though I fear it is--or if she is representing, rather, what image the author wants to put down in paper. The author in the note is far too caring about these women muses being recognized behind the "great" men of literary history that I see a lot of Joy's characterization in the author's own character in her note. I feel, in part, that Joy may have fallen victim to today's feminist culture that demands recognition; however, I do believe Lewis has fallen victim to idolization in our churches today.
In this book, C.S. Lewis was Joy's Jesus. She followed him as she should've followed Jesus. She made an idol of her love for Lewis and worshiped only at the alter of "love" rather than Jesus. She put everything before Jesus, and it shows terribly through this novel. I do hope she wasn't really like this in real life.
Also, what need did the author have to include such explicit bits? Was Joy's only real demand sex? Because it certainly felt like it. Her husband acted in the same way, and he is villainized, but Joy held up on a pillar. If a man acts the way Joy did in today's culture, they are shamed! But Joy, here, is praised? What fallacy! The whole thing read like a harlequin romance or a soap opera.
October 7, 2018
4 intensity of love stars
My reviews can be found here: https://yayareadslotsofbooks.wordpres...
It is often very hard to find true love, searching for it, we so many times stumble looking for that one person who makes us whole, who makes us feel valued, who makes us feel loved.
In Becoming Mrs. Lewis, Patti Callahan explores the love story between C. S. Lewis, a well known older author living in England, and Joy Davidman, a young poet, mother, who was trapped in a marriage to an alcoholic and philanderer. She writes to C.S. Lewis and over time through their letters finds herself falling deeply in love with Lewis's words which represent the man he is. Both Joy and Lewis were former atheists, but found religion and god to be a solace. Joy is restless. She needs to provide some stability in her life and it is through her correspondence and later meeting Lewis that she finds that stability. This book of fiction imagines that world where Joy and Lewis correspond, meet and eventually marry after many years and as the story continues we see the tragedies of their lives unfold.
Joy's first foray to England because of health problems, was her entrance into the world of Lewis and his alcoholic brother. She, leaving her boys behind with their father and her cousin explore Lewis's world, that of Oxford and Cambridge, and of course finds herself falling for the author. She is conflicted by her love for her boys, and growing hatred for her husband. Returning home, eventually the marriage breaks apart, and Joy and her boys return to England and to Lewis where she lived out the rest of her life.
There were some wonderful reading moments in this story as the author interspersed Joy's poetry and sonnets with the text of the story. Not always did I feel for Joy though. She seemed to leave her children and spend months away from them knowing the environment in which they lived. It was at times that I found her character difficult to connect with. Baring that, this was a poignant story of friendship and love, of happiness found, and of knowing that at any time when life seems to be at its lowest ebb, there is hope. Recommended to those who love the idea of literature connecting people to one another, of finding love and hope at any age, and living a life that leads to a true path of caring, devotion and fealty.
Thank you to Patti Callahan, Thomas Nelson Publishing, and NetGalley for a copy of this commendable novel.
My reviews can be found here: https://yayareadslotsofbooks.wordpres...
It is often very hard to find true love, searching for it, we so many times stumble looking for that one person who makes us whole, who makes us feel valued, who makes us feel loved.
In Becoming Mrs. Lewis, Patti Callahan explores the love story between C. S. Lewis, a well known older author living in England, and Joy Davidman, a young poet, mother, who was trapped in a marriage to an alcoholic and philanderer. She writes to C.S. Lewis and over time through their letters finds herself falling deeply in love with Lewis's words which represent the man he is. Both Joy and Lewis were former atheists, but found religion and god to be a solace. Joy is restless. She needs to provide some stability in her life and it is through her correspondence and later meeting Lewis that she finds that stability. This book of fiction imagines that world where Joy and Lewis correspond, meet and eventually marry after many years and as the story continues we see the tragedies of their lives unfold.
Joy's first foray to England because of health problems, was her entrance into the world of Lewis and his alcoholic brother. She, leaving her boys behind with their father and her cousin explore Lewis's world, that of Oxford and Cambridge, and of course finds herself falling for the author. She is conflicted by her love for her boys, and growing hatred for her husband. Returning home, eventually the marriage breaks apart, and Joy and her boys return to England and to Lewis where she lived out the rest of her life.
There were some wonderful reading moments in this story as the author interspersed Joy's poetry and sonnets with the text of the story. Not always did I feel for Joy though. She seemed to leave her children and spend months away from them knowing the environment in which they lived. It was at times that I found her character difficult to connect with. Baring that, this was a poignant story of friendship and love, of happiness found, and of knowing that at any time when life seems to be at its lowest ebb, there is hope. Recommended to those who love the idea of literature connecting people to one another, of finding love and hope at any age, and living a life that leads to a true path of caring, devotion and fealty.
Thank you to Patti Callahan, Thomas Nelson Publishing, and NetGalley for a copy of this commendable novel.
September 22, 2019
I received this book for free as part of an Instagram tour (Just Read Tours specifically) I did to promote the book.
I was interested in reading this book because I am a fan of C.S. Lewis. I hadn’t heard of Joy Davidman before, so I was curious to learn more about her. Please note that although this book is based on real people and real events, it is still a work of historical fiction.
This book was incredible. It beautifully depicted the relationship between Lewis and Davidman. Their romance was unconventional but epic. The love they had for one another is truly remarkable. I loved how they influenced each other’s work and treated each other as equals.
Joy was such a strong woman. I enjoyed learning her backstory and seeing how she had the courage to not only leave her alcoholic and cheating husband, but also to start a new life with her children in another country.
I loved the epilogue. It really gave Joy a voice. She comes from a time where people often silenced her voice and contributions. I liked that the author let Joy have the final word.
Since this is a book about C.S. Lewis, is also discusses the Christian faith but it doesn’t go overboard with it. If you’re worried that it might be too religious, don’t be. The heart of the book is really their love story.
Lastly, the endpapers of the book feature a map of Oxford which I found to be a really nice touch, since the Narnia books are known to have maps.
Overall, this is an amazing read! If you are fan of C.S. Lewis or love books about incredible women, then pick this one up!
I was interested in reading this book because I am a fan of C.S. Lewis. I hadn’t heard of Joy Davidman before, so I was curious to learn more about her. Please note that although this book is based on real people and real events, it is still a work of historical fiction.
This book was incredible. It beautifully depicted the relationship between Lewis and Davidman. Their romance was unconventional but epic. The love they had for one another is truly remarkable. I loved how they influenced each other’s work and treated each other as equals.
Joy was such a strong woman. I enjoyed learning her backstory and seeing how she had the courage to not only leave her alcoholic and cheating husband, but also to start a new life with her children in another country.
I loved the epilogue. It really gave Joy a voice. She comes from a time where people often silenced her voice and contributions. I liked that the author let Joy have the final word.
Since this is a book about C.S. Lewis, is also discusses the Christian faith but it doesn’t go overboard with it. If you’re worried that it might be too religious, don’t be. The heart of the book is really their love story.
Lastly, the endpapers of the book feature a map of Oxford which I found to be a really nice touch, since the Narnia books are known to have maps.
Overall, this is an amazing read! If you are fan of C.S. Lewis or love books about incredible women, then pick this one up!
February 20, 2019
SUMMARY
Joy Davidman is a writer and poet living in Ossining NY in 1946. She is locked in a loveless marriage with her alcoholic husband, Bill Gresham, and their two young sons. In a moment of desperation, she says a prayer to a God she doesn’t believe in and has an overwhelming experience that causes her to want to find out more about Christianity. She writes to Christian apologist C. S. Lewis with questions about God. Lewis responds, beginning a long-term correspondence between the two. Joy finds friendship, solace and wisdom in the letters she receives. By 1952, her husband is both unfaithful and abusive, but Joy can find no way out. Her health is suffering from the stress, and she is under doctors orders to rest. She heads to England for six months, where she meets Lewis for the first time. She falls in love with both England and Lewis, but ultimately must return to the US. There, she is fully committed to divorcing her husband, and returning to England with her two sons. Once she returns to England, Joy is ever hopeful her platonic relationship with Jack, will be transformed into something more.
“You tolerate what you must when it becomes your reality.“
“God might not fix things for me, but he would be with me in whatever waited ahead, that was clear.”
REVIEW
BECOMING MRS. LEWIS is a fascinating historical love story of two literary giants. Joy was a intelligent and strong woman with a voice far ahead of her time. Patti Callahan Henry has recreated the exquisite details of the improbable friendship and ultimate romance between two people a world apart geographically, spiritually, and emotionally.
I particularly loved Henry’s vivid descriptions of Lewis’s home, The Kilns, as well as the depictions of the joy-filled times the two shared together, going for walks or sitting in front of the fireplace sharing stories. While this is a work of historical fiction, readers of C. S. Lewis will absolutely love a glimpse at the personal surroundings, thoughts and feelings of the man behind the beloved characters of Aslan and Wormwood.
Henry’s writing is evocative and masterful. She was inspired to write the story because of her love for the fascinating works of C. S. Lewis. Once she read Lewis’s A Grief Observed, she was committed to finding out more about the women he loved so fiercely he called her “his whole world.” Henry researched Joy’s writing and traveled to the Wade Center at Wheaton College where Joy’s papers are kept alongside C.S. Lewis’s. BECOMING MRS. LEWIS is her fourteenth novel.
“We can’t just surrender to our every desire. Man must have his principles and live by them regardless. Our nature must must be controlled or it can ruin our lives.”
Publisher Thomas Nelson
Published October 2, 2018
Narrated Lauren Woodward
Review www.bluestockingreviews.com
December 20, 2018
I don't know if I can possibly put into words how much I loved this book...or how deeply it touched me. Which is almost funny because when I started reading it, I wasn't actually sure it would end up holding my interest. But once I got going, I couldn't stop. The writing itself is just so pretty...but too, I adored the layered characters. I've seen a review here or there from folks not necessarily loving the way C.S. Lewis is portrayed or feeling let down by the character of Joy. But I loved her all the more for her faults and I loved Lewis himself all the more for the glimpses we get at his own weaknesses or uncertainty. I know this is historical fiction—not necessarily fact—but it served to make real people even more real to me. And it touched my heart in a way I really didn't expect, challenging and inspiring my own faith.
If I had the teensiest of tiniest complaints it's that sometimes it felt like the dialogue was awfully polished. I mean, these are very intellectual, academic characters we're reading about, but even so...there were moments when I thought, "Could a person really be this eloquent in everyday conversation?" But again...tiny, little thing and not nearly enough for me to knock off a star.
Thanks to NetGalley for the courtesy copy of this book. I wasn't required to write a review and all thoughts are my own.
If I had the teensiest of tiniest complaints it's that sometimes it felt like the dialogue was awfully polished. I mean, these are very intellectual, academic characters we're reading about, but even so...there were moments when I thought, "Could a person really be this eloquent in everyday conversation?" But again...tiny, little thing and not nearly enough for me to knock off a star.
Thanks to NetGalley for the courtesy copy of this book. I wasn't required to write a review and all thoughts are my own.
January 26, 2022
Audiobook….read by Lauren Woodward
…..12 hours and 39 minutes
When poet and writer Joy Davidman began writing letters to the literary icon C. S. Lewis, known as Jack, she was looking for spiritual answers, not love. (I had mixed feelings about the spiritual/ religious pursuit) — wasn’t crazy about this aspect….but went with it.
Joy was married to William Lindsay Gresham, (Bill), with two young children: ( Davy and Douglas)
She was also portrayed as a former Jew, ex atheist and ex-communist.
As things progress with Joy and Jack …through letter exchanges — Jack was becoming her mentor, confidant, and eventually best friend.
Joy was in an unhappy, unfaithful, unhealthy, alcoholic husband marriage. He had an affair with Joy’s cousin — which lead to their divorce.
Joy wasn’t a loyal saint herself. She had an affair with a married man…
then other numerous affairs.
I had empathy for her health problems… I wouldn’t wish terminal cancer on anyone….but it was hard to ignore other moral issues.
There was some things with the children — that didn’t sit right with me either …(abandoned them for several months— telling her children she would bring them back lots of presents)….
but I was still engaged in wanting to know the development, growth, and outcome of this unusual relationship between Jack and Joy —
“Becoming Mrs. Lewis” is based on a real life story.
Joy Davidman, an American, became Lewis‘s best friend, editor, and the only women he ever loved and married. Lewis was Joy’s second husband.
In the year 1956, Joy permanently relocated to England to be with Jack.
They married, and four years later she died of cancer at the age of 45.
This was my third book by Patti Callahan…..
It wasn’t my favorite of the three—(a little too schmalzy for my preference with a L O N G drawn-out-theme-of-‘acceptance’….[Joy, intelligent scholar, was desperate to be accepted]….
and ….the ‘entire’ novel felt more uneven than the other two novels I read :
“Once upon a Wardrobe”, and “Surviving Savanna”.
…..But….I was interested to see how it would end.
Personally…. I thought that if the story had been more about Mrs. Lewis and her relationship with C.S. Lewis ….after their marriage — I might not have felt - ha—
…….a little judgmental?, shall I say?/!
But….this historical FICTION…innovative novel — still held some appeal ….mixed with my naughty quibbling thoughts.
3 star - maybe 3.5 stars ….
Overall I’ve enjoyed 3 - recently read novels by Patti Callahan….
and would read her again - try her contemporary novels….
but for now — I’m ready for a Callahan - break.
…..12 hours and 39 minutes
When poet and writer Joy Davidman began writing letters to the literary icon C. S. Lewis, known as Jack, she was looking for spiritual answers, not love. (I had mixed feelings about the spiritual/ religious pursuit) — wasn’t crazy about this aspect….but went with it.
Joy was married to William Lindsay Gresham, (Bill), with two young children: ( Davy and Douglas)
She was also portrayed as a former Jew, ex atheist and ex-communist.
As things progress with Joy and Jack …through letter exchanges — Jack was becoming her mentor, confidant, and eventually best friend.
Joy was in an unhappy, unfaithful, unhealthy, alcoholic husband marriage. He had an affair with Joy’s cousin — which lead to their divorce.
Joy wasn’t a loyal saint herself. She had an affair with a married man…
then other numerous affairs.
I had empathy for her health problems… I wouldn’t wish terminal cancer on anyone….but it was hard to ignore other moral issues.
There was some things with the children — that didn’t sit right with me either …(abandoned them for several months— telling her children she would bring them back lots of presents)….
but I was still engaged in wanting to know the development, growth, and outcome of this unusual relationship between Jack and Joy —
“Becoming Mrs. Lewis” is based on a real life story.
Joy Davidman, an American, became Lewis‘s best friend, editor, and the only women he ever loved and married. Lewis was Joy’s second husband.
In the year 1956, Joy permanently relocated to England to be with Jack.
They married, and four years later she died of cancer at the age of 45.
This was my third book by Patti Callahan…..
It wasn’t my favorite of the three—(a little too schmalzy for my preference with a L O N G drawn-out-theme-of-‘acceptance’….[Joy, intelligent scholar, was desperate to be accepted]….
and ….the ‘entire’ novel felt more uneven than the other two novels I read :
“Once upon a Wardrobe”, and “Surviving Savanna”.
…..But….I was interested to see how it would end.
Personally…. I thought that if the story had been more about Mrs. Lewis and her relationship with C.S. Lewis ….after their marriage — I might not have felt - ha—
…….a little judgmental?, shall I say?/!
But….this historical FICTION…innovative novel — still held some appeal ….mixed with my naughty quibbling thoughts.
3 star - maybe 3.5 stars ….
Overall I’ve enjoyed 3 - recently read novels by Patti Callahan….
and would read her again - try her contemporary novels….
but for now — I’m ready for a Callahan - break.
November 7, 2021
Jack and Joy.
CS Lewis. One of my favorite authors. One of my favorite humans. Such a beautiful heart. I loved reading about his life and Joy Davidman’s life evolving together from letters to meeting in person. A deep friendship that is pure and raw. The deep intelligence that comes together to meet into everlasting true love and joy that only happens once in a lifetime. I am not one that enjoys romance. But this is romance on a different level. Deep, pure and real.
CS Lewis. One of my favorite authors. One of my favorite humans. Such a beautiful heart. I loved reading about his life and Joy Davidman’s life evolving together from letters to meeting in person. A deep friendship that is pure and raw. The deep intelligence that comes together to meet into everlasting true love and joy that only happens once in a lifetime. I am not one that enjoys romance. But this is romance on a different level. Deep, pure and real.
April 13, 2020
Helen Joy Davidman (1915-1960) was an American poet and writer. This book brings a vivid portrayal of “a woman diverse, courageous, and complicated, and a woman whom C.S. Lewis loved with all of his being.” They seemed to be ill-matched, but at the end they offered a glimpse at what love truly means.
New York, 1946. At thirty-one years old, Joy is a writer, mother, and a wife, who also has to deal with her husband’s infidelity. She realizes that the life she pushed for outside the city is not the life that resonates with her. She misses “the hustle and bustle of the city, the publishing parties and literary gossip.” She dives into “history and philosophy books, with religious texts and pamphlets,” it changes her religious view or rather non-religious.
When she comes across a newspaper reporting on in-depth study on another writer and a converted atheist, a man named C.S. Lewis, she dives into his written work, and his works hidden wisdom. Out of hundreds letters, he responds to hers. Thus, begins correspondence between them. She seeks answers to her spiritual questions. They both “find solace and nourishment in nature.” But not everything is about logic. It’s also about surrendering. And doing it in practice is not easy.
With her cousin’s encouragement, she considers traveling to England, to immerse herself in its history and literature. She has an idea for a book set there. Seeking transformation of her heart and body, she goes on this journey across the ocean and a journey for her soul: reading, researching, writing, traveling, meeting new friends and finding a writing group. And there, she meets the famous C.S. Lewis in person. With each conversation they bond more and more. She grieves her failed marriage. He grieves his harsh childhood.
Joy reacts quickly. She is blunt and brash. He is patient and kind of sensitive nature. She recognizes her faults and tries to work on them, but it’s an up-hill battle. He struggles with changing his long-set patterns to let her in with her love. When she hurts or loves, you can feel her emotions. She is so real and her love for him.
This story brings a vibrant depiction of a woman “trying to live an authentic life while also caring for her family and pursuing her creative life” and passion.
Enjoyed the stimulating conversations between them. With flawless prose and engaging dialogue, the author weaves a beautiful love story of two literary minds. And what a love story it is. So different from what we would normally label a love story.
Source: Ebook was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
New York, 1946. At thirty-one years old, Joy is a writer, mother, and a wife, who also has to deal with her husband’s infidelity. She realizes that the life she pushed for outside the city is not the life that resonates with her. She misses “the hustle and bustle of the city, the publishing parties and literary gossip.” She dives into “history and philosophy books, with religious texts and pamphlets,” it changes her religious view or rather non-religious.
When she comes across a newspaper reporting on in-depth study on another writer and a converted atheist, a man named C.S. Lewis, she dives into his written work, and his works hidden wisdom. Out of hundreds letters, he responds to hers. Thus, begins correspondence between them. She seeks answers to her spiritual questions. They both “find solace and nourishment in nature.” But not everything is about logic. It’s also about surrendering. And doing it in practice is not easy.
With her cousin’s encouragement, she considers traveling to England, to immerse herself in its history and literature. She has an idea for a book set there. Seeking transformation of her heart and body, she goes on this journey across the ocean and a journey for her soul: reading, researching, writing, traveling, meeting new friends and finding a writing group. And there, she meets the famous C.S. Lewis in person. With each conversation they bond more and more. She grieves her failed marriage. He grieves his harsh childhood.
Joy reacts quickly. She is blunt and brash. He is patient and kind of sensitive nature. She recognizes her faults and tries to work on them, but it’s an up-hill battle. He struggles with changing his long-set patterns to let her in with her love. When she hurts or loves, you can feel her emotions. She is so real and her love for him.
This story brings a vibrant depiction of a woman “trying to live an authentic life while also caring for her family and pursuing her creative life” and passion.
Enjoyed the stimulating conversations between them. With flawless prose and engaging dialogue, the author weaves a beautiful love story of two literary minds. And what a love story it is. So different from what we would normally label a love story.
Source: Ebook was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
November 25, 2023
For some reason, I took my time with this historical fiction book. It is about the friendship and love story between famed author C.S. Lewis and American writer/poet and eventual wife, Joy Davidman.
It was enchanting on so many levels. Their romance was unconventional but epic. The love they had for one another was truly remarkable. I loved how they influenced each other’s work and treated each other as equals.
This book has so many layers. This book of fiction imagines that world where Joy and Lewis correspond, meet and eventually marry after many years.
And...
As the story continues we see the tragedies of their lives unfold.
This book develops all the truth, tenderness and triumph you could expect in this time period, (the 1950's) and yet there is a sense of something different, too which isn’t easily explained.
There were some wonderful reading moments in this story as the author interspersed Joy's poetry and sonnets with the text of the story.
If you love the idea of literature connecting people to one another, of finding love and hope at any age, than I think you might enjoy reading this one, too.
It was enchanting on so many levels. Their romance was unconventional but epic. The love they had for one another was truly remarkable. I loved how they influenced each other’s work and treated each other as equals.
This book has so many layers. This book of fiction imagines that world where Joy and Lewis correspond, meet and eventually marry after many years.
And...
As the story continues we see the tragedies of their lives unfold.
This book develops all the truth, tenderness and triumph you could expect in this time period, (the 1950's) and yet there is a sense of something different, too which isn’t easily explained.
There were some wonderful reading moments in this story as the author interspersed Joy's poetry and sonnets with the text of the story.
If you love the idea of literature connecting people to one another, of finding love and hope at any age, than I think you might enjoy reading this one, too.
October 5, 2018
BECOMING MRS. LEWIS is a book that I have been looking forward to reading for a long time. At the same time, I put it off because I was afraid it would not live up to my expectations. I had previously read JOY by Abigail Santamaria, an excellent non-fiction book about Joy Davidman and her life with C.S. Lewis. When I finally sat down and started to read the book, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I loved it.
READ THE REST OF THE REVIEW OVER AT FRESH FICTION!
READ THE REST OF THE REVIEW OVER AT FRESH FICTION!
February 1, 2021
What a lovely story! This book tells the love story between Joy Davidman and CS Lewis. It was told from Joy's perspective and reads like a memoir. I found it a bit slow at times, but was crying by the end because I just loved following their story. It was a slow burn friend to lover story and I was heartbroken at the end. After finishing I rented Shadowlands on Amazon Prime and now want to read all the CS Lewis books!
March 4, 2019
Having heard Lewis’ stepson Douglas Gresham say that this book was historically accurate, I had high hopes for it. He also was clear that it is a work of fiction, which seems very charitable now that I’ve read it.
I didn’t like this book. I think the reason for that is primarily because I feel the author did a poor job of bringing Joy Davidman to life. She came off the page as a very selfish and self-centred person, without a deep and abiding faith, living her life for her own pleasure and gain, at all costs. She gives vague assent to God, but nothing in the writing indicates a life transformed by Jesus. I think this is a failure on the author’s part, and not of Joy Davidman herself because I think that a woman who could so completely capture the heart and affections of C.S. Lewis would have been one who had a robust faith and theology. The Joy Davidman in this novel has nothing resembling that. She is idolatrous at every turn, looking to men and her circumstances to bring her the hope, peace and joy she so desperately craves - which are abundantly hers in Christ if she would seek him. I really wonder what the real woman was like, and if she resembled this fictional account at all.
Patti Callahan’s seems to have taken this soapbox as an opportunity to preach about the horrible lot women have been given “trying to live an authentic life while also caring for her family and pursuing her creative life, art or passion.” (From A Note From The Author at the book’s conclusion) Right, because women who have a home and family to fill it are so repressed and are being prevented from being their authentic self... If you can’t be yourself at home as a wife and mother, the problem lies in what you believe the authentic self to be, and not the circumstances you find yourself in.
The telling of this story is startlingly absent of Jesus. Callahan makes Lewis Joy’s saviour. When faced with her mortality, it is not the love of Christ that brings her abiding hope, it is the love of her Jack.
Seriously disappointed in this book. It could have been told in half as many pages with better clarity and theological insight (there really was none in this book). I seriously contemplated quitting when I was 1/3 of the way in but I was curious about the history so I kept reading. Surely there must be something better out there to show what Lewis’ relationship with his wife was like, and gives glory to Christ for such a redemptive story rather than giving glory to Joy and Jack.
I didn’t like this book. I think the reason for that is primarily because I feel the author did a poor job of bringing Joy Davidman to life. She came off the page as a very selfish and self-centred person, without a deep and abiding faith, living her life for her own pleasure and gain, at all costs. She gives vague assent to God, but nothing in the writing indicates a life transformed by Jesus. I think this is a failure on the author’s part, and not of Joy Davidman herself because I think that a woman who could so completely capture the heart and affections of C.S. Lewis would have been one who had a robust faith and theology. The Joy Davidman in this novel has nothing resembling that. She is idolatrous at every turn, looking to men and her circumstances to bring her the hope, peace and joy she so desperately craves - which are abundantly hers in Christ if she would seek him. I really wonder what the real woman was like, and if she resembled this fictional account at all.
Patti Callahan’s seems to have taken this soapbox as an opportunity to preach about the horrible lot women have been given “trying to live an authentic life while also caring for her family and pursuing her creative life, art or passion.” (From A Note From The Author at the book’s conclusion) Right, because women who have a home and family to fill it are so repressed and are being prevented from being their authentic self... If you can’t be yourself at home as a wife and mother, the problem lies in what you believe the authentic self to be, and not the circumstances you find yourself in.
The telling of this story is startlingly absent of Jesus. Callahan makes Lewis Joy’s saviour. When faced with her mortality, it is not the love of Christ that brings her abiding hope, it is the love of her Jack.
Seriously disappointed in this book. It could have been told in half as many pages with better clarity and theological insight (there really was none in this book). I seriously contemplated quitting when I was 1/3 of the way in but I was curious about the history so I kept reading. Surely there must be something better out there to show what Lewis’ relationship with his wife was like, and gives glory to Christ for such a redemptive story rather than giving glory to Joy and Jack.
March 28, 2019
"We are often woefully negligent of the women next to the men we admire, and Joy Davidman is one of those women."
Patti Callahan in A Note From the Author, Becoming Mrs. Lewis
I knew nothing about poet and novelist Joy Davidman before, and very little about C.S. Lewis other than he has written many books that I've never had the slightest interest in. The author, however, has been a fan for years of them both and strove to make Joy's extraordinary accomplishments known. Callahan has given us the story of how a married Jewish woman and mother of two became a Christian with the courage to leave her husband and America, to meet her penpal and spiritual advisor Mr. Lewis, then a professor at Oxford, and eventually move to England to work side by side with him as an intellectual equal. She was his co-writer, his editor, his muse, and his love, joy, and grief. She received very little recognition.
Callahan's prose had to be brilliant to convey that of Joy's, and she met that challenge. I found the book to be lovely. Only a few times did I think it verged on being preachy (both of the main characters were quite devout, but not boring), and it came pretty darn close to being a romance book, but in the end I'd simply say it was heartbreakingly romantic. Their conversations were thought provoking and intellectually stimulating, never sappy. I intend to read something by each of them.
Patti Callahan in A Note From the Author, Becoming Mrs. Lewis
I knew nothing about poet and novelist Joy Davidman before, and very little about C.S. Lewis other than he has written many books that I've never had the slightest interest in. The author, however, has been a fan for years of them both and strove to make Joy's extraordinary accomplishments known. Callahan has given us the story of how a married Jewish woman and mother of two became a Christian with the courage to leave her husband and America, to meet her penpal and spiritual advisor Mr. Lewis, then a professor at Oxford, and eventually move to England to work side by side with him as an intellectual equal. She was his co-writer, his editor, his muse, and his love, joy, and grief. She received very little recognition.
Callahan's prose had to be brilliant to convey that of Joy's, and she met that challenge. I found the book to be lovely. Only a few times did I think it verged on being preachy (both of the main characters were quite devout, but not boring), and it came pretty darn close to being a romance book, but in the end I'd simply say it was heartbreakingly romantic. Their conversations were thought provoking and intellectually stimulating, never sappy. I intend to read something by each of them.
June 2, 2020
The historical fiction novel Becoming Mrs. Lewis by Patti Callahan is told in the first person by Joy Davidman, who becomes the wife of C.S. Lewis. I find it a bit presumptuous and cheeky when an author feels comfortable in giving thoughts and words to an actual person, even if it is done under the guise of a novel. While I do feel the author has done a very good job in representing the personality and genius of Joy Davidman, I still found the novel to be quite boring at times.
The novel tells about what is often described as “the improbable” relationship between Joy Davidman Gresham, a married New Yorker with two sons, and the beloved author, C.S. Lewis. She was born Jewish and as a young adult became a communist and an atheist. She and her first husband Bill Gresham were both writers and often struggled financially. Bill was an adulterer and an alcoholic. One day, Joy had a deeply moving experience where she felt God’s presence. She became a Christian. As typical for most Christians, she struggled with certain ideologies. She had read several of C.S. Lewis’ books and wrote to him to seek his guidance. He responded six months later.
Over the years through letters and a visit to England in 1952, Joy and Jack (the nickname Lewis preferred to be called), developed a deep friendship. It was clear that Joy was in love with Lewis, but he did not reciprocate. After learning that her husband was having an affair with her cousin, Joy moved to London with her two sons. She continued to pursue Jack all the while he insisted they were just good friends. They were married first in a civil ceremony to keep her from being deported. Lewis insisted that the marriage be kept secret. When it was discovered she had cancer, Lewis admitted his love for her. After finally getting permission from the Church of England, they married the second time in a religious ceremony in her hospital room. She died of cancer four years later at the age of 45.
I listened to the Audible audiobook of this novel. It was 12 hrs and 39 mins long. I found parts of the narrative to be about mundane, day-to-day things that held no interest for me. Joy Davidman had a lot of unrequited love that was expressed so many times that I became bored with the relationship. 3-Stars.
The novel tells about what is often described as “the improbable” relationship between Joy Davidman Gresham, a married New Yorker with two sons, and the beloved author, C.S. Lewis. She was born Jewish and as a young adult became a communist and an atheist. She and her first husband Bill Gresham were both writers and often struggled financially. Bill was an adulterer and an alcoholic. One day, Joy had a deeply moving experience where she felt God’s presence. She became a Christian. As typical for most Christians, she struggled with certain ideologies. She had read several of C.S. Lewis’ books and wrote to him to seek his guidance. He responded six months later.
Over the years through letters and a visit to England in 1952, Joy and Jack (the nickname Lewis preferred to be called), developed a deep friendship. It was clear that Joy was in love with Lewis, but he did not reciprocate. After learning that her husband was having an affair with her cousin, Joy moved to London with her two sons. She continued to pursue Jack all the while he insisted they were just good friends. They were married first in a civil ceremony to keep her from being deported. Lewis insisted that the marriage be kept secret. When it was discovered she had cancer, Lewis admitted his love for her. After finally getting permission from the Church of England, they married the second time in a religious ceremony in her hospital room. She died of cancer four years later at the age of 45.
I listened to the Audible audiobook of this novel. It was 12 hrs and 39 mins long. I found parts of the narrative to be about mundane, day-to-day things that held no interest for me. Joy Davidman had a lot of unrequited love that was expressed so many times that I became bored with the relationship. 3-Stars.
February 1, 2021
Reread 1/31/2021:
I reread this over the last couple days because I became obsessed with C.S. Lewis again. Not even sure what started it, but this time, select passages of this book combined with historical knowledge of Jack and Joy and random quotes for Lewis's works touched me in a very different way - a personal way - and I learned so much through later study combined with just the thoughts on this book!
I will note that this is not a book for the faint of heart, it is not a book for those who are looking for 100% clean fiction, and it is not a book for a casual read. I'm also not 100% sure how accurate it is, but most of what I've actually checked seems about right. The story seems sensationalized until you read their biographies and go, "Oh, that actually happened!" Besides, they had so many letters to draw from.
Anyways, just wanted to say that this reread really inspired me!
Original Read:
I don't have intelligent brain thoughts right now - just some feelings.
Also, I know nothing about C.S. Lewis's life, because I had no idea Joy even existed. ;) And then my mom was like, "How could you not know that!?" Me: "YOU DIDN'T TEACH ME, MRS. IS-MY-ONLY-TEACHER." But apparently in the past I've picked up so much random knowledge that it is shocking when I don't know everything about people I admire.
I don't know that I necessarily recommend this book. It's interesting. But ... I think I'd have to know you and know what you enjoy and what you don't enjoy to know if I would recommend this book or not!
I reread this over the last couple days because I became obsessed with C.S. Lewis again. Not even sure what started it, but this time, select passages of this book combined with historical knowledge of Jack and Joy and random quotes for Lewis's works touched me in a very different way - a personal way - and I learned so much through later study combined with just the thoughts on this book!
I will note that this is not a book for the faint of heart, it is not a book for those who are looking for 100% clean fiction, and it is not a book for a casual read. I'm also not 100% sure how accurate it is, but most of what I've actually checked seems about right. The story seems sensationalized until you read their biographies and go, "Oh, that actually happened!" Besides, they had so many letters to draw from.
Anyways, just wanted to say that this reread really inspired me!
Original Read:
I don't have intelligent brain thoughts right now - just some feelings.
Also, I know nothing about C.S. Lewis's life, because I had no idea Joy even existed. ;) And then my mom was like, "How could you not know that!?" Me: "YOU DIDN'T TEACH ME, MRS. IS-MY-ONLY-TEACHER." But apparently in the past I've picked up so much random knowledge that it is shocking when I don't know everything about people I admire.
I don't know that I necessarily recommend this book. It's interesting. But ... I think I'd have to know you and know what you enjoy and what you don't enjoy to know if I would recommend this book or not!
February 15, 2019
This book is ridiculously self-indulgent. Despite being based on a very real and very interesting person who carefully selects her words, Joy Davidman is presented as a limp noodle who speaks in an annoying stream-of-consciousness way. She speaks (and thinks) in ridiculously long winded monologues about herself (or she waffles on about absolutely nothing). Sometimes you think “there’s no way she said that aloud” then “there’s no way someone thinks she’s an intelligent person for saying that aloud” then “dear lord someone shut her up”.
Skip this book. It’s a huge disappointment. I was excited to learn more about their life (with a little bit of flair as it’s biographical fiction) but it’s dead boring and very frustrating. You’ll end up being very annoyed at both Joy Davidman, for being someone presented as intelligent and humble but talks at length about her wit, and C.S. Lewis for liking her. I kept on with this book and finished it in hopes would get better and I really wish I quit.
The best part of this book is the author’s note.
Drinking game for this book: “poogle”
Skip this book. It’s a huge disappointment. I was excited to learn more about their life (with a little bit of flair as it’s biographical fiction) but it’s dead boring and very frustrating. You’ll end up being very annoyed at both Joy Davidman, for being someone presented as intelligent and humble but talks at length about her wit, and C.S. Lewis for liking her. I kept on with this book and finished it in hopes would get better and I really wish I quit.
The best part of this book is the author’s note.
Drinking game for this book: “poogle”
November 13, 2018
I liked what the author set out to do (as put forth in the author's note) but didn't feel like the text achieved that. I ended up disliking both Joy and Jack, finding them pretty insufferable. I did not find their romance romantic. I'm not sure why I kept reading. Some kind of perverse stubbornness.
October 23, 2018
After a recent surge of personal interest in the Chronicles of Narnia, I was really looking forward to reading Becoming Mrs. Lewis. However, it wasn't the book for me. The author writes beautifully (I'd like to learn some of her secrets) but the book itself was quite uninteresting and left me depressed instead of uplifted. Joy Davidman led, in many ways, a depressing life and that translated into this book. We didn't get to see much (if any) of her happiness with Lewis - only her struggles and failures. There was very little joy in this book (ironically enough).
I also found the amount of inappropriate content too much for a Christian book. Some swearing (mostly the h-word) and sexual references also contributed to my negative opinion of this book. And I don't agree with many of Joy's choices, so there's that as well.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
I also found the amount of inappropriate content too much for a Christian book. Some swearing (mostly the h-word) and sexual references also contributed to my negative opinion of this book. And I don't agree with many of Joy's choices, so there's that as well.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
September 28, 2018
Check out my Q&A Interview with Author Patti Callahan Henry! Thank you, Patti— so much fun.
Patti Callahan Henry has been a favorite author of mine throughout the years, an avid fan –with twelve New York Times bestselling novels – she has been hailed as a “fresh new voice” in contemporary Southern fiction. I have had the opportunity of reading each of them and thoroughly enjoyed.
In her latest historical fiction, the author dazzles! She vividly re-creates the world of Joy and C. S. Lewis in BECOMING MRS. LEWIS. What starts as a spiritual quest turns into history. Moving and riveting, a singular woman whom C. S. Lewis deeply loved and profoundly influenced his later writings. However, there is much about Joy some overlook behind the shadow of this influential man.
We have heard the author reference in her interviews, “The endless complications and multifaceted dimensions of love and desire fascinate me—the promises these feelings prompt us to make.”
Whether she is writing about friendship, forgiveness, love, the power of family, self-discovery or second chances, the author writes with lyrical prose, deep emotion from the heart, and a master at her craft.
However, in BECOMING MRS. LEWIS, the author shines. A literary work of art! Illuminating. Extremely moving and memorable. A compelling and convincing book you will treasure. (Cover love).
Before you finish the book, you will be returning to works of both Helen Joy Davidman and C.S. Lewis —and devouring in a new light. A beautiful love story—in more ways than one. Two strong literary minds coming together as one as they try to understand life, spirituality, choices, and relationships.
As Patti reiterates, this novel is written in a key of empathy for this extraordinary woman. She hopes to capture some of Joy’s courage, conflicted and sometimes disparaged choices, as well as her abiding love for a man we know as C. S. Lewis, but whom she identified as a mentor, best friend, and in the end her love, and husband. The man she knew as Jack. Indeed, Patti, you have accomplished this and more. Joy would be proud.
If you have read the author’s previous books, you may have seen her scattered quotes from C.S. Lewis (1898-1963), a scholar and teacher at both Oxford and Cambridge Universities who is best known for his Narnia Chronicles for children, was an atheist for most of his early life and converted to Christianity in 1931. He was an Oxford don, a poet, an imaginative genius, a master at prose and theme.
Now, it is not surprising Henry would dive into her latest project, penning an extraordinary novel of Joy Davidman, a poet, writer, and the woman C. S. “Jack” Lewis “my whole world.” Writing as Patti Callahan, the author traces Joy’s story from New York to London to Oxford. Joy’s life was a big part of Lewis’s and his writing.
She breathes new life into a story, not often told. Through extensive research and travel, she speaks of the woman, not behind the man, but “beside him.” Now, for the first time, the author takes a closer look at this amazing woman.
BECOMING MRS. LEWIS is a remarkable story of a brilliant writer. She was a force of beautiful prose and intelligence. A sophisticated and complex woman often misunderstood. A multi-award- winning poet, a novelist, a critic, and protégé of the MacDowell Colony and much more. Her impressive credentials graduated from college at fifteen and received her master’s degree in fiction from Columbia.
Yet there were conflicting narratives about her life. Some thought she was a brash New Yorker who inserted herself into Lewis’s life. However, looking back to the era, this was a complicated, yet courageous woman. Everything about Joy seemed ill-matched for an Oxford don and Christian apologist living in England. She was a married woman who lived in Upstate New York with her two young sons.
After C.S. Lewis went public with his conversion and commitment to Jesus Christ, controversy hounded him until his death. From his lack of theological sophistication, and other fundamentalists attacking his interpretation of scripture and Christian traditions.
But none of these issues caused more stirring than the furor that surrounded his marriage to Helen Joy Davidman. In the mind of many of C.S. Lewis's friends, it was bad enough that a bachelor nearly sixty years old married a woman of forty. But to make matters worse, she was an American divorcee who also happened to be Jewish and the mother of two boys.
How could this match possibly come about? On paper, there was not a more impossible pairing. But in the end proved a memorable love story.
The author takes us back to 1927, Bronx New York to 1946 — marriage to William Lindsay Gresham (Bill). Two sons, Davy and Douglas. From an atheist moved to pray when tragedy came. A breakdown, an alcoholic and unfaithful husband, tearing him back to the bottle. She prayed for help. But to whom?
An unquestionable belief. Her doubt about the Christ. A Christ, C. S. Lewis apparently believed in. Leading her to read an article by a Beloit College professor Chad Walsh. “Apostle to the Skeptics” an in-depth study of an Oxford fellow in England. A man named C. S. Lewis who was a converted atheist. Of course, she had heard of him and read some of this work. However, soon she would read everything he wrote, being drawn to the wisdom hidden in the story: The Screwtape Letters.
There is much which occurred leading up to the introduction of these two literary souls in 1950. Patti Callahan takes us on the journey. The before and after.
The C.S. Lewis and Chad Walsh connection provided the beginning of a spark. At Chad's suggestion, she read everything Lewis wrote as well as others. Between the New York pastor and her mentor, Chad Walsh, Joy grew in faith and began manifesting signs of genuine conversion and repentance.
At Chad Walsh's urging, Joy wrote to C.S. Lewis about some of her thoughts on his books. Although Walsh assured Joy that Lewis always answered his correspondence, it took her two years to find the courage to write. When she did, in January 1950, Lewis's brother noted in his journal that Jack had received a fascinating letter from a most interesting American woman, Mrs. Gresham.
For the next two and a half years Joy and C.S. Lewis carried on a rich correspondence that intellectually and spiritually encouraged each of them. Over that quarter decade, Joy's health and family problems opened the way for the famous English author and his talented American pen friend to meet.
“Who is this God I now believe in? What am I to do with this Truth? Was it real at all or have I deluded myself with another cure-all that cures nothing?” Joy to Lewis. She wanted to him to see her. She wanted him to know her.
“Out of the corner of his letters I experienced a different link of life: one of peace and connection and intellectual intimacy, of humor and kindness, and I indulged.”
During the late 1940s Joy's health deteriorated. She suffered from nervous exhaustion while trying to raise the boys and write enough to pay all the bills. Joy finished several writing projects, including a novel, Weeping Bay, that came out with Macmillan in early 1950. Then while writing a book-length Jewish-Christian interpretation of the Ten Commandments, she became gravely ill with jaundice. Her doctor ordered rest - preferably away from the pressures of her chaotic house and family.
During all this, Joy received a request from her first cousin, Renee with two children from Alabama, desperately trying to escape her abusive and alcoholic husband. Joy happily took them under her wing and the visit proved to be a help to her, as well. This provided supportive for Joy to get away to write and rejuvenate and finally meet C. S Lewis.
She left America. She also left behind those who did not understand. She hated leaving the boys behind, but she knew she would return stronger and Renee was supportive. Bill wanted her to do what was best to heal (at the time). However, her church community scowled. Other women talked about her.
“Did they not feel the anxiety that comes when the inner light rises and cries out, “Let me live”?
She soon was seduced by England. There is much in between. She would return home, but this was not the end.
From the Kilns garden, Oxford, Magdalen, to Ireland, Greece, Emerald Isle, to the Old Inn in Crawforshire—their storytelling, their extended family, and their love. The couple only married for three short years. The ecstasy in pain, the redemption of the past, love that surpassed all understanding. Books have been written, and their stories have been dissected. A remarkable couple whose lives intersected and became as one.
“Grace does not tell us how long we have in our life, or what comes next—that’s why grace is given only in the moment. Unmerited mercy is never earned.”
When Joy had to leave in 1960, more than ten years after she opened his first letter. He grieved. He wrote of this enveloping grief, and it became one of his most beloved books —A Grief Observed. After their marriage, he became a wonderful stepfather to Joy’s sons. He wrote two more books. These books and these works would not exist without Joy’s love and life, without his love for her.
Lewis believed that Joy helped complete him as a person, and she acknowledged that he did the same for her, reflected in both their works. From a Grief Observed to The Four Loves. Those of us who have admired C. S. Lewis also should be grateful for Joy Davidman Lewis as well, since his collection would not be what it is today without their connection.
“A compelling, page-turning narrative . . . BECOMING MRS. LEWIS we hope is the first of many books from Patti Callahan to re-examine history from a fresh, female contemporary point of view. Essential women, making an impact on in the world, often behind the scenes.
A special thank you to Thomas Nelson @TNZFiction and #NetGalley for an early reading copy of #BecomingMrsLewis. Also pre-ordered the hardcover and audiobook.
#JDCMustReadBooks
Patti Callahan Henry has been a favorite author of mine throughout the years, an avid fan –with twelve New York Times bestselling novels – she has been hailed as a “fresh new voice” in contemporary Southern fiction. I have had the opportunity of reading each of them and thoroughly enjoyed.
In her latest historical fiction, the author dazzles! She vividly re-creates the world of Joy and C. S. Lewis in BECOMING MRS. LEWIS. What starts as a spiritual quest turns into history. Moving and riveting, a singular woman whom C. S. Lewis deeply loved and profoundly influenced his later writings. However, there is much about Joy some overlook behind the shadow of this influential man.
We have heard the author reference in her interviews, “The endless complications and multifaceted dimensions of love and desire fascinate me—the promises these feelings prompt us to make.”
Whether she is writing about friendship, forgiveness, love, the power of family, self-discovery or second chances, the author writes with lyrical prose, deep emotion from the heart, and a master at her craft.
However, in BECOMING MRS. LEWIS, the author shines. A literary work of art! Illuminating. Extremely moving and memorable. A compelling and convincing book you will treasure. (Cover love).
Before you finish the book, you will be returning to works of both Helen Joy Davidman and C.S. Lewis —and devouring in a new light. A beautiful love story—in more ways than one. Two strong literary minds coming together as one as they try to understand life, spirituality, choices, and relationships.
As Patti reiterates, this novel is written in a key of empathy for this extraordinary woman. She hopes to capture some of Joy’s courage, conflicted and sometimes disparaged choices, as well as her abiding love for a man we know as C. S. Lewis, but whom she identified as a mentor, best friend, and in the end her love, and husband. The man she knew as Jack. Indeed, Patti, you have accomplished this and more. Joy would be proud.
If you have read the author’s previous books, you may have seen her scattered quotes from C.S. Lewis (1898-1963), a scholar and teacher at both Oxford and Cambridge Universities who is best known for his Narnia Chronicles for children, was an atheist for most of his early life and converted to Christianity in 1931. He was an Oxford don, a poet, an imaginative genius, a master at prose and theme.
“A talented debater and writer, Lewis published many works on a wide variety of topics—but the subjects that most interest me, especially as a writer, revolve around his exploration of human longing and the search for meaning. His writing has inspired me since I read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe as a child. The Screwtape Letters offers profound insights into human nature.”
Now, it is not surprising Henry would dive into her latest project, penning an extraordinary novel of Joy Davidman, a poet, writer, and the woman C. S. “Jack” Lewis “my whole world.” Writing as Patti Callahan, the author traces Joy’s story from New York to London to Oxford. Joy’s life was a big part of Lewis’s and his writing.
She breathes new life into a story, not often told. Through extensive research and travel, she speaks of the woman, not behind the man, but “beside him.” Now, for the first time, the author takes a closer look at this amazing woman.
BECOMING MRS. LEWIS is a remarkable story of a brilliant writer. She was a force of beautiful prose and intelligence. A sophisticated and complex woman often misunderstood. A multi-award- winning poet, a novelist, a critic, and protégé of the MacDowell Colony and much more. Her impressive credentials graduated from college at fifteen and received her master’s degree in fiction from Columbia.
Yet there were conflicting narratives about her life. Some thought she was a brash New Yorker who inserted herself into Lewis’s life. However, looking back to the era, this was a complicated, yet courageous woman. Everything about Joy seemed ill-matched for an Oxford don and Christian apologist living in England. She was a married woman who lived in Upstate New York with her two young sons.
After C.S. Lewis went public with his conversion and commitment to Jesus Christ, controversy hounded him until his death. From his lack of theological sophistication, and other fundamentalists attacking his interpretation of scripture and Christian traditions.
But none of these issues caused more stirring than the furor that surrounded his marriage to Helen Joy Davidman. In the mind of many of C.S. Lewis's friends, it was bad enough that a bachelor nearly sixty years old married a woman of forty. But to make matters worse, she was an American divorcee who also happened to be Jewish and the mother of two boys.
How could this match possibly come about? On paper, there was not a more impossible pairing. But in the end proved a memorable love story.
The author takes us back to 1927, Bronx New York to 1946 — marriage to William Lindsay Gresham (Bill). Two sons, Davy and Douglas. From an atheist moved to pray when tragedy came. A breakdown, an alcoholic and unfaithful husband, tearing him back to the bottle. She prayed for help. But to whom?
An unquestionable belief. Her doubt about the Christ. A Christ, C. S. Lewis apparently believed in. Leading her to read an article by a Beloit College professor Chad Walsh. “Apostle to the Skeptics” an in-depth study of an Oxford fellow in England. A man named C. S. Lewis who was a converted atheist. Of course, she had heard of him and read some of this work. However, soon she would read everything he wrote, being drawn to the wisdom hidden in the story: The Screwtape Letters.
There is much which occurred leading up to the introduction of these two literary souls in 1950. Patti Callahan takes us on the journey. The before and after.
The C.S. Lewis and Chad Walsh connection provided the beginning of a spark. At Chad's suggestion, she read everything Lewis wrote as well as others. Between the New York pastor and her mentor, Chad Walsh, Joy grew in faith and began manifesting signs of genuine conversion and repentance.
At Chad Walsh's urging, Joy wrote to C.S. Lewis about some of her thoughts on his books. Although Walsh assured Joy that Lewis always answered his correspondence, it took her two years to find the courage to write. When she did, in January 1950, Lewis's brother noted in his journal that Jack had received a fascinating letter from a most interesting American woman, Mrs. Gresham.
For the next two and a half years Joy and C.S. Lewis carried on a rich correspondence that intellectually and spiritually encouraged each of them. Over that quarter decade, Joy's health and family problems opened the way for the famous English author and his talented American pen friend to meet.
“Who is this God I now believe in? What am I to do with this Truth? Was it real at all or have I deluded myself with another cure-all that cures nothing?” Joy to Lewis. She wanted to him to see her. She wanted him to know her.
“Out of the corner of his letters I experienced a different link of life: one of peace and connection and intellectual intimacy, of humor and kindness, and I indulged.”
During the late 1940s Joy's health deteriorated. She suffered from nervous exhaustion while trying to raise the boys and write enough to pay all the bills. Joy finished several writing projects, including a novel, Weeping Bay, that came out with Macmillan in early 1950. Then while writing a book-length Jewish-Christian interpretation of the Ten Commandments, she became gravely ill with jaundice. Her doctor ordered rest - preferably away from the pressures of her chaotic house and family.
During all this, Joy received a request from her first cousin, Renee with two children from Alabama, desperately trying to escape her abusive and alcoholic husband. Joy happily took them under her wing and the visit proved to be a help to her, as well. This provided supportive for Joy to get away to write and rejuvenate and finally meet C. S Lewis.
She left America. She also left behind those who did not understand. She hated leaving the boys behind, but she knew she would return stronger and Renee was supportive. Bill wanted her to do what was best to heal (at the time). However, her church community scowled. Other women talked about her.
“Did they not feel the anxiety that comes when the inner light rises and cries out, “Let me live”?
She soon was seduced by England. There is much in between. She would return home, but this was not the end.
From the Kilns garden, Oxford, Magdalen, to Ireland, Greece, Emerald Isle, to the Old Inn in Crawforshire—their storytelling, their extended family, and their love. The couple only married for three short years. The ecstasy in pain, the redemption of the past, love that surpassed all understanding. Books have been written, and their stories have been dissected. A remarkable couple whose lives intersected and became as one.
“Grace does not tell us how long we have in our life, or what comes next—that’s why grace is given only in the moment. Unmerited mercy is never earned.”
When Joy had to leave in 1960, more than ten years after she opened his first letter. He grieved. He wrote of this enveloping grief, and it became one of his most beloved books —A Grief Observed. After their marriage, he became a wonderful stepfather to Joy’s sons. He wrote two more books. These books and these works would not exist without Joy’s love and life, without his love for her.
Lewis believed that Joy helped complete him as a person, and she acknowledged that he did the same for her, reflected in both their works. From a Grief Observed to The Four Loves. Those of us who have admired C. S. Lewis also should be grateful for Joy Davidman Lewis as well, since his collection would not be what it is today without their connection.
“A compelling, page-turning narrative . . . BECOMING MRS. LEWIS we hope is the first of many books from Patti Callahan to re-examine history from a fresh, female contemporary point of view. Essential women, making an impact on in the world, often behind the scenes.
A special thank you to Thomas Nelson @TNZFiction and #NetGalley for an early reading copy of #BecomingMrsLewis. Also pre-ordered the hardcover and audiobook.
#JDCMustReadBooks
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