Patti Callahan. Becoming Mrs. Lewis. Thomas Nelson, 2018. See here to purchase the book.
Becoming Mrs. Lewis is a novel about Joy Davidman’s
relationship with C.S. Lewis, the renowned Christian academic,
apologist, and author. Joy Davidman married C.S. Lewis and died of
cancer during their marriage.
This book is written from the perspective of Joy Davidman, and each
chapter opens with a quotation from her writings, as she was an author
in her own right. The book starts with a brief prologue about her
childhood, then it jumps to her first marriage to the author Bill
Gresham, who is unfaithful to her and is struggling to stay sober with
Alcoholics Anonymous. Joy undergoes a conversion to Christianity. She
develops a relationship with C.S. Lewis, in letters and later in person,
and it is initially Platonic, though she finds herself to be infatuated
with him from the beginning. The book details her insecurities in her
marriage to Bill and in her relationship with C.S. Lewis. It ends with
the aftermath of her death.
The book had interesting details. It shares how C.S. Lewis got the
nickname “Jack.” It was also noteworthy that Lewis’ brother, Warnie, had
literary projects in his own right. Joy’s mother was entertaining: she
still thought every man was physically attracted to her!
What I especially liked about this book was that the relationship
between Joy and C.S. Lewis was so affable, and both C.S. Lewis and
Warnie were friendly and approachable people. As I read this book, I
continually compared it to the movie Shadowlands, starring
Anthony Hopkins. C.S. Lewis in that movie came across as rather stuffy
and snobbish, and Joy rebuked him for creating a world in which nobody
could challenge him. This book had none of that. C.S. Lewis was open,
humble, and self-deprecating. Joy often was unconvinced by C.S. Lewis’
platitudes and had her share of frustrations within the relationship,
but she still enjoyed his company. There is a saying, “Don’t meet your
heroes,” but, if C.S. Lewis was like he was in this book, I would have
loved to have met him. The saying does apply to the book’s portrayal of
Tolkein, however, for Tolkein in the book comes across as no-nonsense
and gruff.
Patti Callahan received input from Joy’s Davidman’s son, Douglas
Gresham, and she also discusses the new developments in research in the
last decade, as new documents have been discovered.
I received a complimentary copy of this book through BookLook Bloggers. My review is honest.