Becoming Mrs. Lewis
The Improbable Love Story of Joy Davidman and C. S. Lewis
-
-
4.5 • 2 Ratings
-
-
- £6.99
-
- £6.99
Publisher Description
***SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2020 ROMANTIC NOVEL AWARDS***
'Luminous and penetrating' Paula McLain
A heart-rending historical romance.
Poet, atheist, and communist, New Yorker Joy Davidman is an unconventional woman--and an unlikely partner for an English academic and theologian. And when she starts a correspondence with Narnia author C. S. Lewis, she isn't looking for love. Her own marriage crumbling, she seeks refuge in her work and guidance from a writer she admires. But in Joy's letters Lewis discovers a kindred spirit and an intellect to equal his own. Bonding over a shared love of literature and ideas, a deep connection is forged between the two. Embarking on the adventure of a lifetime, Joy travels from America to England and back again. Facing heartbreak and poverty, discovering friendship and faith, against all the odds, the couple struggle to secure a love that will endure forever.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Callahan (The Bookshop at Water's End) vividly enters the life of a woman searching for both God and romantic love in this pleasing historical novel about writer and poet Joy Davidman. In 1946, Joy lives in Ossining, N.Y., with her alcoholic husband, Bill Gresham, and her two small sons. In a moment of desperation, she prays to a God she doesn't believe in and experiences feeling "fully known and loved." Three years later, now deeply considering Christianity, she writes to Christian apologist C.S. Lewis with her questions about God. He responds, beginning a long-term correspondence in which Joy finds "peace, connection, and intellectual intimacy." By 1952, she wants to leave her unfaithful, abusive husband, but sees no way out. She does manage to take a much-needed physical and mental respite, heading to England for six months and falling in love with both England and Lewis; her only regret is leaving behind her sons. But, even after Bill and Joy divorce, Lewis at first keeps their relationship platonic, and Joy must search for true love and fulfillment through her relationship with God. Making full use of historical documentation, Callahan has created an incredible portrait of a complex woman.
