Another look at Joy Davidman

Rarely does one find a bibliography at the end of a novel. That Becoming Mrs. Lewis (2018) by Patti Callahan has one, even if it's called by a different name, suggests how earnestly the author sought to make her novel conform with the true story of Joy Davidman and C.S. Lewis.

A month ago I reviewed Joy, a biography of Davidman by Abigail Santamaria (See "Surprised by Joy Davidman," May 11), and it is one of the sources Callahan used in writing her novel. Yet as faithful to the facts as the novelist tries to be, her Joy Davidman seems easier for the reader to love than Santamaria's. Wherever the truth lies with regard to Joy's character, there is no question but that Lewis loved her. That is clear in both books, as well as in every other book written on the subject, including Lewis's own.

Callahan dwells little on the earlier years of Joy's short life. Mostly the novel covers the period from the early 1950s — when, her marriage to Bill Gresham floundering, she begins corresponding with Lewis —  to their marriage and her terminal cancer.

I am not convinced Callahan chose correctly in telling her story in first person from Joy's point of view. For one thing, this means that the author must find another way to mention the later stages of Joy's illness and her death. This she must do in an epilogue. For another, when we tell our own story we paint ourselves in more positive terms than we may deserve, which probably explains why Joy is more likable here. For yet another, a third-person narrative could have given insight into what Lewis, her two sons and even Bill Gresham were thinking during the growth of this relationship.

One of the best things about the novel, at least from my own perspective, is the way Callahan uses the Lewis book The Four Loves to show the development of his love for Joy, or at least how she sees that development, from friendship to romantic love.

There is much to like about Becoming Mrs. Lewis. Perhaps if I had not read Santamaria's book so recently I would have liked it even better.