Becoming Mrs. Lewis - by Patti Callahan (Paperback)

About the Book

After you experience the magic of Narnia, allow New York Times bestselling author Patti Callahan to introduce you to Joy Davidman: the brilliant writer, fiercely independent mother, and passionate woman who captured the heart of C.S. Lewis and inspired the books that still enchant and change us today.

Book Synopsis

After you experience the magic of Narnia, allow New York Times bestselling author Patti Callahan to introduce you to Joy Davidman: the brilliant writer, fiercely independent mother, and passionate woman who captured the heart of C.S. Lewis and inspired the books that still enchant and change us today.

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 professor and the beloved writer of The Chronicles 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, found 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.

Expanded Edition includes:

• a map of Oxford
• an expanded discussion guide with more than 20 questions that are perfect for book clubs
• a timeline of Jack's and Joy's lives
• Joy's (imagined) letter to Jack
• 10 things you may not know about Joy Davidman and C. S. Lewis's love story
• and a behind-the-scenes essay on the city of Oxford.

Review Quotes

'. . . a deeply moving story about love and loss that is transformative and magical.'--Pam Jenoff

'. . . an incredible portrait of a complex woman.'--Publishers Weekly, STARRED review

'Callahan crafts a masterpiece that details the friendship and ultimate romance between the real Davidman and Lewis . . . a magical and literary experience that won't be soon forgotten.'--Library Journal, STARRED review

'I was swept along, filled with hope, and entirely beguiled.'--Lisa Wingate

'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.'--Ariel Lawhon

'The result of [Patti's] work has turned out to be extraordinary. Callahan's book, which she claims to be semi-fictional, somehow captures the everyday nature of my mother rather beautifully! It tells us not merely of a courageous great poet, a novelist and even something of a theologian, but of a great woman. And that is something that I think should be known.'--Douglas Gresham, son of Joy Davidman Gresham

'This is the book Patti Callahan was born to write. BECOMING MRS. LEWIS is a tour de force and the must-read of the season!'--Mary Alice Monroe