I have always found C.S. Lewis to be an amazingly interesting person. He was a lackadaisical Christian who became an apologist for Christian teachings and philosophy as an adult having been influenced by friends J.R.R. Tolkien and G.K. Chesterton. He was married to writer Joy Davidman, with whom he shared an enormous love.

Becoming Mrs. Lewis, by Patti Callahan, is a mostly-based-on-reality story of how the two writers met and fell in love. Joy Davidman was married to another writer who was an abusive alcoholic with two children when she began a correspondence with the writer C.S. Lewis. Once an atheist and communist, Davidson was converted to the Christian belief following what she saw as a miracle involving her husband after fervent prayer.

Her relationship with her husband was failing, and she finally left to spend some time in England where she met with and began a friendship with C.S. Lewis that changed her life. Later, she divorced her husband and moved her children to England, where they spent their remaining formative years with their mother and C.S. Lewis, who finally married in 1956.

The book is based on truth. The story is so interesting that the fact that the story moves pretty slowly and there are far too many words (was there an editor?) didn’t deter from the interesting tale. The author’s story made me wish that I, too, could have been a friend of C.S. Lewis.

In real life, Davidman and Lewis only had four years together as husband and wife. She died of cancer, and he died a few years later. If you have read any of his books about his faith — particularly  A Grief Observed — you become very familiar with the love between the two of them, and the love and belief he had in Christianity.

I recommend the book if you don’t mind a bit of slow read.

Here is a link to the book.