Becoming Mrs. Lewis ~ Review

Becoming Mrs. Lewis
By Patti Callahan

She became Mrs. Lewis but the journey from Joy Davidman to Mrs. Gresham to Mrs. Lewis was not an easy one. From an early age, Joy became an atheist and she clung to this belief of unbelief until she called out to God in a moment of despair. Fear for her husband caused her to call out but what she experienced set her on a path that would take years and redirect her life.

What had she experienced? Joy was determined to discover the truth researching through reading books, articles, and asking questions. The question that made the greatest impact was the one she wrote to Mr. Chad Walsh in which she asked him about C.S. Lewis. In reply to her letter, he told to write to C.S. Lewis and ask him the questions she had. What followed was years of correspondence that lead to a unique and special friendship between the two.

As Joy struggles with her husband's bouts of drinking, infidelity, and abuse her correspondence with Jack offers her a chance to escape the life she had and to hope for something better. When her own writing provides the funds to visit England in the hopes of saving her marriage and to heal from the undiagnosed illness plaguing her Joy takes this opportunity. Exploring England, doing research for her newest book, and connecting with her friends including Jack.

Joy's return to her home exposed just how dreadful her home life had become, a life that was threatening to drag her beloved sons down with it. With her husband once again straying from his vows, Joy knows that she and her sons must leave behind this toxic life. But divorce was something she had never thought would be a consideration for her. Yet it was the only way she knew to save both herself and her boys.

Becoming Mrs. Lewis is a most interesting look at the life of the woman who inspired C.S. Lewis to write A Grief Observed. Their friendship and love was but a mere 10 years and yet it had a tremendous impact on both. It all started with the reading of a book The Great Divorce and a questioning, seeking mind. One never knows just what journey the opening of a book will set one on and this is one woman's journey. A journey of pain, of loss, of joy, of love, of life.

I was provided a complimentary copy of this book by the publisher through TLC Book Tour with no expectation but offering my honest opinion - all opinions expressed are my own.

Listen to an audio clip of chapters 1 and 2: here

About the Book:

Hardcover: 432 Pages

Publisher: Thomas Nelson (October 2, 2018)

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.

Purchase Links

Amazon | Books-A-Million | Barnes & Noble

About the Author:

Patti Callahan (who also writes as Patti Callahan Henry) is a New York Times bestselling author. Patti was a finalist in the Townsend Prize for Fiction, has been an Indie Next Pick, twice an OKRA pick, and a multiple nominee for the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA) Novel of the Year. Her work has also been included in short story collections, anthologies, magazines, and blogs. Patti attended Auburn University for her undergraduate work and Georgia State University for her graduate degree. Once a Pediatric Clinical Nurse Specialist, she now writes full time. The mother of three children, she lives in both Mountain Brook, Alabama and Bluffton, South Carolina with her husband.

Connect with Patti

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Instagram Tour Stops

Monday, October 1st: @Rissi006

Monday, October 1st: @hollyslittlebookreviews

Tuesday, October 2nd: @thecaffeinated_bibliophile

Wednesday, October 3rd: @girlsinbooks

Wednesday, October 3rd: @readingbringsjoy

Thursday, October 4th: @bookishmadeleine

Thursday, October 4th: @ladyofthelibrary

Thursday, October 4th:: @theardentbiblio

Saturday, October 6th: @acozyreader

Sunday, October 7th: @theliterarybirds

Review Tour Stops

Monday, October 1st: View from the Birdhouse

Tuesday, October 2nd: @prose_and_palate and Prose and Palate

Wednesday, October 3rd: Book by Book

Thursday, October 4th: Amy’s Book-et List

Friday, October 5th: Running Through the Storms

Monday, October 8th: Really Into This and @mountain_reader_

Tuesday, October 9th: Blooming with Books

Wednesday, October 10th: @createexploreread

Thursday, October 11th: Jathan & Heather

Friday, October 12th: The Lit Bitch

Monday, October 15th: @kim_reads

Tuesday, October 16th: Diary of a Stay at Home Mom

Wednesday, October 17th: Openly Bookish

Thursday, October 18th: Cheryl’s Book Nook

Monday, October 22nd: Fiction Aficionado

Monday, October 22nd: @novelmombooks

Tuesday, October 23rd: Read Eat Repeat

Wednesday, October 24th: Faery Tales are Real

Thursday, October 25th: Girl Who Reads

Friday, October 26th: What is That Book About