Now a USA TODAY and Publishers Weekly bestseller! “Patti Callahan seems to have found the story she was born to tell in this tale of unlikely friendship turned true love between Joy Davidman and C. S. Lewis, that tests the bounds of faith and radically alters both of their lives. Their connection comes to life in Callahan’s expert hands, revealing a connection so persuasive and affecting, we … affecting, we wonder if there’s another like it in history. Luminous and penetrating.” –Paula McLain, New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Wife
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.
“Patti Callahan Henry breathes wondrous fresh life into one of the greatest literary love stories of all time . . . The result is a deeply moving story about love and loss that is transformative and magical.” –Pam Jenoff, New York Times bestselling author of The Orphan’s Tale
“I was swept along, filled with hope, and entirely beguiled, not only by the life lived behind the veil of C. S. Lewis’s books but also by the woman who won his heart. A literary treasure from first page to last.” –Lisa Wingate, New York Times bestselling author of Before We Were Yours
“Profoundly evocative, revealing an intimate view of a woman whose love and story had never been fully told . . . until now . . . Becoming Mrs. Lewis is a tour de force and the must-read of the season!” –Mary Alice Monroe, New York Times bestselling author of Beach House Reunion
“Patti Callahan somehow inhabits Davidman, taking her readers inside the writer’s hungry mind and heart. We keenly feel Davidman’s struggle to become her own person at a time (the 1950s) when women had few options . . . An astonishing work of biographical fiction.” –Lynn Cullen, bestselling author of Mrs. Poe
“Patti Callahan breathes life into this fascinating woman whose hunger for knowledge leads her to buck tradition at every turn.” –Diane Chamberlain, New York Times bestselling author of The Dream Daughter
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What a delightful look at Joy Davidson and her life and marriage to C. S. Lewis. It’s a work of fiction, but the author did an outstanding job with the research and weaving the facts into a very touching story. She bring Joy and C. S. to live, and she made me think deeply about faith, love, and marriage. Beautifully written and highly recommended.
An almost poetic telling of the love story between C.S. Lewis and American writer Joy Davidman. The pacing of the novel is slow and lingering, subtly reflecting the unique and intricate relationship as it unfurls. This, I imagine was done on purpose and the author did a spectacular job of allowing the reader to feel what Joy herself quite likely felt in many instances along the way.
Ms. Callahan, was clearly meant to write this novel as she wrote from the perspective of another talented author from years gone by, making her human and stunningly brilliant all at the same time.
An amazing story, from beginning to end. The research was so thorough and the narrative so real that I had to remind myself that it was fictional. Of course, it’s fiction. No one could know all that was said or thought in all the moments shared within the book. But the author obviously dived deep into the plethora of resources available on the people involved that it felt real.
I loved the glimpses into the letters shared between them, even though I know much of it was fabricated. I loved getting a glimpse into their other relationships and the very real heartaches that touched my emotions as only fiction can. It makes the people I admire all the more real and the work God can do in all of us all the more amazing.
After finishing Becoming Mrs. Lewis by Patti Callahan I don’t want to start reading another book.
That’s the greatest compliment I can pay a story. I just want to savor this gorgeous novel and starting anything else will dilute it in my memory. Which means I’ll eventually have to read it again.
I’ve long admired C.S. Lewis. Mere Christianity is an exceptional outline for the Christian faith and a book I dip into often. The Chronicles of Narnia are some of the most satisfying stories I’ve ever read. To this day.
But I mostly thought of Mr. Lewis as a brilliant mind and not as a flesh and blood man. Reading about his relationship with Joy Davidman has changed that forever. I knew he’d married a brash American, but there’s SO much more to the story. And Joy had such an impact on his ideas (plus she was an amazing poet).
Instead of starting another novel I’m picking up Lewis’ books and reading them through the lens of the divorced American who taught him how to love. A Grief Observed is breaking my heart. The Four Loves is offering insight into how and who I love. I’m eager to read Til We Have Faces.
Callahan didn’t tell us a new story. She told us a TRUE story. And I’d venture to say much of the truth isn’t about how Jack and Joy loved one another, but in how God loves us all.
It’s a gorgeous book. Read it.
This was an unexpected pleasure to read. A fictionalized account based on true events and found documents, this story about friendship originating through letters and common curiosity, to an eventual meeting and gradual growing closer lived up to my expectations and more.
Although not a rabid C.S. Lewis fan, I have enjoyed his works and adaptations from them. I have come across Joy’s writing but never really put the two of them together until I came across this book.
This was a book to escape into, to get lost in and to just leave the world as we know it today behind.
It is a gentle drawing back into a past with all the typical troubles that come with a marriage, the growing stale, and the added difficulties of alcoholism. Joy is looking for an anchor, something to believe in, a way to make sense of life and why she is even here.
This is also an interesting look into a writer’s mind.
I took my time and picked this up in spare moments and enjoyed reading it at a slower pace.
What a beautiful story. I like the fact that this book is fiction based on a true story. Beautiful and poignant. This story is beautifully depicted in this book. Well worth a read.
Although this novel is from a publisher of Christian books (Thomas Nelson) and one of its tags is “Christian fiction,” fans of C.S. Lewis’s works in general–the Narnia chronicles, The Screwtape Letters, A Grief Observed, etc., are enjoying it immensely, and I think it would also appeal to anglophiles in general as the descriptions of Oxford, London, and the English countryside are extremely well done. Writers will also enjoy this depiction of the writing life and of a clearly successful writing partnership. Lovers of beautifully crafted prose will appreciate the writing. Ms. Callahan’s research is clearly deep, broad and thorough, and I’d recommend reading her notes about it, which are at the end of the book, before the story. I found them really enlightening about her process, and exactly what she had available and what she didn’t.
The protagonist and first person narrator of this historical fiction is Joy Davidman, who experienced a profound conversion to religious certainty from atheism while terrified during one of her alcoholic/abusive husband’s absences from their home in upstate New York following a fight. (They had two young sons and she was very isolated at the time, without money, neighbors, or a car.) This led her to beginning a correspondence with C.S. Lewis whose work she read and admired; over time her admiration became nearly obsessive, and when she was prescribed a “rest cure” due to ill health, she decided to leave her family and travel to England to work on a new book. While there, she visited with “Jack” Lewis, and their relationship grew, (as did, over time, her admiration and what she feared was a one-sided love).
A theme of the book might be considered to be her journey to differentiate obsession and neediness from love. Jack Lewis’ rigid adherence to the dictates of his Christian ethics and church rules frustrated Joy who longed for their deep friendship to progress, especially after she was finally able to divorce. Jack’s Church of England continued to regard her as once and forever married, and therefore unavailable to Jack, who was both considerably older than she and a bachelor.
For a contemporary reader, their journey to come together may seem painfully slow and require a great deal of patience. Patti Callahan patiently and skillfully built the world they inhabited and shows us exactly how it happened.
I could list some legit criticisms of this book, and other reviewers have. But the bottom line is this: holy cow, this is a masterpiece of poetic beauty! Patti Callahan has a style and grace with words that is just plain divine and God-given.
“England embraced us with cold, foggy arms.” “Ripples radiating outward, a circle of misplaced water that reached the shore’s edge to dance with the fall grass.” “Flowers outrageous in their glory, raindrops settling in the cups of their raised faces.” I don’t personally have the DNA to dream up such lovely word pictures, but I extravagantly admire those who have been so blessed.
I’m a fan of C. S. Lewis, and did enjoy both film versions of “Shadowlands,” so I was grateful when my wife passed this book on to me. Readers should know that the familiar story from the films/play aren’t much in this telling. The arranged civil wedding, the cancerous collapse, the remission, the deathbed nuptials . . . all happen in the last 12 percent of Patti’s gripping story. But she delivers exactly what she promises: the saga of how two fascinating idealists defy the odds to fall in love.
Some can rightly object that Joy Gresham is sometimes an unappealing figure: pushy, brash, way too full of herself. She injects herself and two sons into Jack Lewis’s life in a way most of us would find hugely intrusive and demanding. But it’s part of the story, and C. S. Lewis bears it with grace.
My one small critique would link to the poetic beauty of Callahan’s writing. Sometimes in conversations between the two – and these are understandably fictional recreations – the same metaphor-dripping tone creeps in. They’re still classic moments, but now don’t ring quite as true. Right when they both realize she’s dying, the scene gets somewhat maudlin, or what I sometimes call “Aaron Sorkin-y.” Great for the stage, but too artificial for an actual ICU.
Still, that is a minor criticism. You will want to read this fine tale in one sitting and savor the beauty of how Callahan tells this story.
The finest line in the book comes near to the grim ending. Joy Gresham reflects on the hand she and Jack have been dealt by the Lord, and quietly concludes: “Just because we love God and are committed to him doesn’t mean we are exempt from the pain and loss in this world. We can’t ask to be the exceptions.”
Spread the word, because this book is a jewel to treasure.
I received a copy of this book from the Fiction Guild, I was not required to give a favorable review. This story was a story of love, friendship and deep understanding that God does come to those who look for it. Joy Davidman Grisham started writing letters to C.S. Lewis while living in New York with her ex-husband and her children. She was a writer and poet, so was her husband, she was born Jewish but became an atheist but when things got really bad with her husband one night after putting her children to bed and received a phone call from her husband she prayed and one of their close friends had met Lewis while he was in England. The corresponded for year and she finally was able to take the time to travel to meet him while working on a new book she was writing. But her ex-husband was a cheater and decided to fall for her cousin while she was gone. So she made the ultimate decision and that was to divorce her husband which was not looked on favorable during that time and took her boys to England. Her friendship with Jack and his brother Weinie was something that kept her going but she was falling in love with him, but said he coudn’t love. But things changed and they were able to live through her suffering from cancer and his osteoperosis. And kept the boys from ever having to go back to America to be with the dad. They did marry in the church. I loved this story very much.
I didn’t know anything about Joy Davidman before reading this book, other than she was the wife of C.S. Lewis. What a fiery and whip-smart woman, mother, and writer. I loved seeing peeks into her writing life, the blossoming relationship between her and “Jack,” and the gorgeous English settings. Patti wove fact and fiction together seamlessly and wrote in her signature style that had me turning down pages so I could go back and reread lines again later.
Patti Callahan has written my favorite book of the year. Becoming Mrs. Lewis deftly explores the life and work of Joy Davidman, a bold and brilliant woman who is long overdue her time in the spotlight. Carefully researched. Beautifully written. Deeply romantic. Fiercely intelligent. It is both a meditation on marriage and a whopping grand adventure. Touching, tender, and triumphant, this is a love story for the ages.
This finely observed accounting of writer Joy Davidman’s life deeply moved me. Patti Callahan somehow inhabits Davidman, taking her readers inside the writer’s hungry mind and heart. We keenly feel Davidman’s struggle to become her own person at a time (the 1950s) when women had few options. When Davidman breaks free of a crushing marriage and makes the upstream swim to claim her fullest life, we cheer. An astonishing work of biographical fiction.
I almost passed this book on by, being more of a Tolkien fan than a Lewis aficionado. But I’m glad I snatched up a kindle deal. It’s a fictionalized biography, but with the magic of opening up a wardrobe in a spare room and discovering a forest and a faun inside. Told from the first person, the clarity and immediacy of this story made me wonder if Joy Davidson had left behind a detailed diary.
Not quite. But she left behind a lot of writing, and of course C.S. Lewis did too. The author immersed herself in this body of work and pulled off a brilliant story. It depicts the spiritual journey of a flawed, needy woman who finds rest in Christ–but has to fight for it over and over. The love story is rich, a joining of two minds and hearts, united despite–or perhaps because of–great difficulty.
You don’t have to agree with Lewis’s theology (a tad heterodox in places) or agree with all their choices to like this book. Two sinners saved by grace find each other. Some adult content, nothing remotely explicit.
Highly recommended!
Doubtful, but the rating MIGHT have been higher (?) if I had read it instead of listening on an audio version narrated by the author. I know she was the writer and should have known all the nuances, but she just came off flat and preachy, no characterization or real sense of place.
If you’re not invested in the views of an author’s take on God and religion being repeated over and over, this is not the book for you. If I didn’t love C S Lewis, I would have rated this book (One star).
I SO love reading a well-written novel base on real people! And this book certainly was one. I love what the author did with the characters of Joy and C.S. Lewis, and especially how raw and deep and honest Joy’s spiritual journey in the book is.
The only thing I really DID NOT like was how completely stupid the Anglican church acted about not letting Joy and C.S. get married because she was divorced. But that is not the author’s fault. It really happened that way, though it makes zero sense. Joy had every conceivable biblical grounds for divorce that I could possibly think of. Her husband was repeatedly unfaithful to her (Jesus made it clear that was grounds for divorce) he was also an unbeliever who was apparently NOT content to dwell with her (at least not in a faithful way), which Paul clearly states leaves the believer “not bound.” Furthermore, her first husband, Bill, was divorced before he married her in the first place, so technically, his marriage to Joy never counted in the first place, by the Anglican church’s standards.
I mean really. What else did they want from her? How as it in any way biblical to refuse to allow her to remarry? Did all churches have insane policies like that in the 50’s? Or was it just the Anglican church? Good grief. I’m ranting now. I know. I just thought it was so ridiculous.
But like I said, that was NOT the author’s fault, it’s just what factually happened. Anyway, the author did a beautiful job of exploring the lives of 2 unique, brilliant people who both went from Atheism to faith in very unique ways, were far from perfect, but genuinely spent their later years seeking after God and in the end, found that he had made them a perfect match for each other. Absolutely delightful read.
Patti has helped open the world to see intimately a woman that rose to the difficult challenge many women face; adversity. We see the reality of Joy’s faith and how it was transformed alongside Lewis’. I learned so much about Lewis as well.
Finally, the love story between C.S. Lewis and Joy Davidman told from her point of view. But this is so much more than a love story. Joy is fascinating as an individual in her own right. The best biographical novel I’ve read in many, many years!
Tragic with a blessed ending.
Patti Callahan’s Becoming Mrs. Lewis: The Improbable Love Story of Joy Davidman and C. S. Lewis was entertaining and informative. Historical fiction at its finest. Would recommend it for CS Lewis, and Patti Callahan fans and historical fiction readers.
If you are a fan of C.S. Lewis, you need to pick up Patti Callahan’s book Becoming Mrs. Lewis. This historical fiction is based on many interviews and loads of research which enables Callahan to bring Joy Davidman’s experiences to life as she develops a long-term relationship with Lewis.
As a person with a similar conversion story as Lewis, Joy Davidman began writing letters to him. She also felt a literary connection to him since she was a published poet. Struggling in an abusive marriage and new to the Christian life, Joy sought counsel from Lewis. Her letters from America traveled across the ocean to Lewis at Oxford and he wrote back, gradually leading to a long-term pen-pal friendship. Over many years Lewis continued to give her advice and encouragement, but this life-long bachelor kept his feelings in check, only allowing his love to be philia (friendship/brotherly love). For years there was a clear line he never crossed, often leaving Joy to wonder if the love she felt was only one-sided. After many years when Joy’s circumstances changed and Lewis had the support of the Church of England, only then did he allow his feelings of eros (romantic love) to surface and they were married. The love and respect readers have for Lewis will only be reinforced by seeing his continual integrity and kindness, and readers will realize how Joy’s influence helped shaped the man Lewis became.
I applaud Patti Callahan’s success in writing this book. The amount of research she did truly made these two people come alive again.