New York Times bestselling author Patti Callahan stops by the Wade Center to discuss her newly-released book, Becoming Mrs. Lewis. Patti discusses with Drs. Crystal and David Downing the inspiration behind her work of historical fiction that depicts the love story between Joy Davidman and C.S. Lewis. Patti also discusses the process of writing her book, insights she gleaned about Joy and Jack, and the research that went into bringing her book to life. This episode of the podcast will appeal to authors, fans of Lewis and Joy’s love story, and especially fans of Joy Davidman Lewis.
About the Author
Patti Callahan Henry is a New York Times best-selling author of fourteen novels, including the historical fiction, BECOMING MRS. LEWIS—The Improbable Love Story of Joy Davidman and C.S. Lewis. Her fifteenth novel, THE FAVORITE DAUGHTER, (Southern Contemporary Fiction) will be published June 4, 2019, and available for pre-order now.
A full-time author and mother of three children, she now resides in both Mountain Brook, Alabama and Bluffton, South Carolina with her husband. View More
About the Book
Now a USA TODAY and Publishers Weekly bestseller!
“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. Read More About Becoming Mrs. Lewis
The Wade Center Podcast features interviews and discussions with scholars and figures related to the Wade Center and our authors: C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Dorothy L. Sayers, George MacDonald, G.K. Chesterton, Owen Barfield, Charles Williams. You can also listen on YouTube, iTunes, Spotify and Stitcher.
Visit us on the campus of Wheaton College to learn more about the lives and work of these authors, and see The Lewis Family Wardrobe, J. R. R. Tolkien's writing desk, and many other fascinating artifacts.
Nov, 2018 Podcast
Patti Callahan