"Becoming Mrs. Lewis"

Book Description from the publisher:

“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 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 has written my favorite book of the year . . . 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, author of I Was Anastasia

My Review:

I had read a book by Patti previously, and I had heard so much about this new release from her that I was anxious for it to finally be released, not to mention the cover is beautiful!  Believe me I was not disappointed and the wait was worth it!  "Becoming Mrs. Lewis" is a wonderful story, a sweet love story, that will completely draw you in and have you feeling as if you are part of that world.  Patti writes with such feeling and such beautiful descriptions that it was so easy to get lost in the story and the setting just became so real.  Joy and Jack's relationship began through letters as Joy as seeking guidance and answers to questions of the spiritual kind.  They got to know each other through these letters and the friendship that developed and grew turned into love and marriage.  This is such a beautiful portrayal as it shows how they interacted and how they became friends and the feelings that grew as a result, so sweet, so pure, nothing that was expected by either at the start.  

I grew up hearing the name C.S. Lewis and reading his books; however I never once wondered about his wife, his family, his life really.  Thinking back now I never really thought about him besides the author of well-known books and books that I had to read, but now after reading this book, I feel like I know him as an individual and it makes me want to reread his work as I have a different perspective and view of him.  "Becoming Mrs. Lewis" is one of my must-reads for the year and it is a perfect book to dive into this month, a nice story to get all cozy with a mug and sit down to become lost in.  

*Thanks to the BookLook Bloggers Program for the complimentary copy of this book.*