‘Once Upon a Wardrobe’ by Patti Callahan

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.

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

‘Becoming Mrs. Lewis’ by Patti Callahan

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.

This is a moving love and loss story for fans of C.S.Lewis. It is an historical fiction based on the later life of Joy Davidman, and an intimate view into the private lives of two famous and remarkable individuals.

C.S. Lewis was a British writer, scholar, poet, imaginative genius, and lay theologian, best known for his insightful non-fiction works on the mysteries of faith, grief, and love, but also his fictions: The Screwtape Letters (a masterful satire about resistance to temptation) and The Chronicles of Narnia (a series of seven fantasy novels for children).

Joy Davidman was a brave and outspoken American award winning poet and novelist, a Jewish New York divorcee, a former atheist and ex-Communist–perhaps an unlikely choice for an author known for his writings on the Christian faith. But Lewis came to faith in God in a mysterious way, not unlike Joy’s own journey. They shared a love for reading and writing, debate and conversation, indeed their relationship started through letters.

Patti Callahan does a beautiful job of this biographical fiction, exploring their relationship but also delving into the challenges of their time. I was truly swept away by Callahan’s storytelling.

This book makes me want to disappear down the rabbit hole and reread C.S. Lewis’ books and find more books by Callahan. Coincidentally, she has just published another book called Once Upon a Wardrobe which attempts to answer the question “Where did the ideas for Narnia come from?”

I’m also interested to read a book by Joy’s son Douglas Gresham called Lenten Lands: My Childhood with Joy Davidman and C.S. Lewis, in which he tells his side of the story as Joy’s son and Jack’s step-son. I’ve also just purchased a delightfully illustrated book of recipes of the foods featured in The Chronicles of Narnia series, entitled The Official Narnia Cookbook.

Ok, so if I disappear for awhile, I’ll either be in the wardrobe or in the kitchen…:) This short introduction by the author is worth viewing.