When I recently finished Becoming Mrs. Lewis by this author, I was motivated to learn even more about C.S. Lewis and started re-reading The Chronicles of Narnia. Lewis’ fiction transports us to a magical world, but also shows us glimpses of truth and reality, which is why the series speaks to adults as well as children. So I was delighted to discover this new book from Callahan about the origins of Narnia. The premise of the book is, “Where did Narnia come from?”
Providing background information about Lewis’ childhood and school years, Callahan weaves a fiction that not only addresses the question of how Narnia came to be, but also speaks to the power of story. George is a young boy with a terminal illness. Megs, his older sister is on a scholarship at Oxford. She is a brilliant maths student and loves the certainty of numbers and equations. She also loves her younger brother with all her heart, and is devastated that he doesn’t have long to live. When George becomes captivated by a brand new book called The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, he begs Megs to find out where Narnia came from, and there’s no way she can refuse. She has to find a way to talk to the author C.S. Lewis.
Megs soon finds herself taking tea with the Oxford don and his brother Warnie, imploring them for answers. She hopes the answers will be clear and straightforward like a math equation, but receives mostly stories, which frustrates Megs because she was looking for logical answers. Lewis teaches her a new way of looking at things. The gift that Megs thought she was giving her little brother, turns out to be a gift George leaves with her instead.
“The fantastic and the imaginative aren’t escapism. Good stories introduce the marvellous. The whole story, paradoxically, strengthens our relish for real life. This excursion sends us back with renewed pleasure to the actual world. It provides meaning.”
Patti Callahan
Joanne's Reading Blog 
This looks interesting. I loved Becoming Mrs.Lewis but didn’t know about this new book. Thanks Joanne!
Thanks Joanne. Love that quote. Lewis’s fiction for me has often spoken to the real world more than a lot of non-fiction–posssibly even more so these days