Synopses & Reviews
The first full biography of Joy Davidman brings her out from C. S.and#160;Lewisandrsquo;s shadow, where she has long been hidden, to reveal a powerful writer and thinker. Joy Davidman is known, if she is known at all, as the wife of C. S. Lewis. Their marriage was immortalized in the film Shadowlands and Lewisandrsquo;s memoir, A Grief Observed.and#160;Now, through extraordinary new documentsand#160;asand#160;well asand#160;years of research and interviews, Abigail Santamaria brings Joy Davidman Greshamand#160;Lewis to the page in the fullness and depth she deserves.
A poet andand#160;radical, Davidman was a frequentand#160;contributorand#160;to the communist vehicle Newand#160;Masses and an activeand#160;member of Newand#160;Yorkand#160;literary circles in the 1930s andand#160;40s. After growing up Jewish in the Bronx,and#160;she was an atheist, then aand#160;practitioner of Dianetics;and#160;sheand#160;converted to Christianity after experiencing a moment of transcendent grace.and#160;A mother, a novelist, a vibrant and difficult and intelligent woman, she set off for England in 1952, determined to captivate the man whose work had changed her life.
Davidmanand#160;became the intellectual and spiritual partner Lewis never expected but cherished. She helped him refine his autobiography, Surprised by Joy, and to write his novel Till We Have Faces. Their relationshipandmdash;begun when Joy wrote to Lewis as a religious guideandmdash;grewand#160;from a dialogue about faith, writing, and poetry intoand#160;a deep friendship and aand#160;timeless love story.
and#160;
Review
andquot;[An] impressive debut biography...Santamaria has fashioned a compelling narrative, remaining cleareyed about her subjectand#39;s many personal failings.andquot;andmdash;Kirkus
andquot;Santamariaandrsquo;s debut is sure to get attention from C.S. Lewis scholars and fans...Those who want to know the real andshy;Davidman will discover a woman in search of purpose and meaning who finally finds it in the faith and person of Lewis.andquot;andmdash;Library Journal
andquot;Joy captures the toughness, the dreams, the hypocrisy, of a complex and controversial woman.andquot;andmdash;BBC.com, One of Ten Books to Read in August
andquot;[A] biography as compelling as fiction.andquot;andmdash;The Charlotte Observer
andquot;Santamariaandrsquo;s sympathetic and clear-eyed portrait of Joy Davidman might surprise people who assume that confirmed bachelor C.S. Lewis would fall only for an especially godly woman. Santamaria, relying heavily on Joyandrsquo;s own writings, paints a vivid portrait of the pre-Lewis Davidman. Itandrsquo;s a fascinating portrait of Davidmanandrsquo;s childhood in New York, her radical college years and membership in the Communist Party, her rocky marriage to Bill Gresham, and her long-distance infatuation with Lewis, whom she pursued with single-minded focus despite her marriage. Santamaria highlights Davidmanandrsquo;s literary brilliance and shows her growing reliance on Christ.andquot;andmdash;World Magazine
andquot;A clear-eyed, insightful portrait of a fascinating woman, Santamariaand#39;s biography adds important depth and richness to the popular image of Joy Davidman.andquot;andmdash;Shelf Awareness
andldquo;Abigail Santamaria has written a luscious Narnia tale for grownups, a literary biography that takes the shape of a quest narrative as the brilliant idealistic Joy Davidman Gresham, writer and free spirit, adopts one cause after another until finally setting her cap for her spiritual mentor, C. S. andldquo;Jackandrdquo; Lewis.and#160; Santamariaandrsquo;s astonishing detective work reveals the surprising truth behind Lewisandrsquo;s description of the couple as andlsquo;a sinful woman married to a sinful man,andrsquo; even as she portrays their late-life love affair as salvational to them both.andrdquo;
andmdash;Megan Marshall, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Margaret Fuller: A New American Life
andquot;A biography about the brilliant and brash New Yorker who captured C.S. Lewisand#39;s heart was long overdue, so Iand#39;m thrilled to report that Abigail Santamaria does not disappoint. Her highly readable book should be the definitive biography of Joy Davidman for a long time to come.andquot;
andmdash;Eric Metaxas,and#160;New York Timesand#160;best-selling author ofand#160;Miraclesand#160;andand#160;Bonhoeffer
andldquo;Joy is a delightful and fast-paced romp through a fascinating life.and#160; I read most of this book in one sitting, genuinely curious about whether this feisty, brilliant woman was going to get her happy ending.and#160; A truly impressive, even enviable, debut for a writer and a historian.andrdquo;
andmdash;Debby Applegate, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the forthcomingand#160;Madam: The Notorious Life and Times of Polly Adler
andldquo;Superbly researched and stylishly written, Joy dissolves the soft-focus romanticism of Shadowlands and brings before us a real-life woman in all her complexity.and#160; Abigail Santamaria, in a fine first work, guides us expertly and fair-mindedly round the beautiful ruins of an extraordinary life.andrdquo;
andmdash;Michael Ward, University of Oxford, co-editor of The Cambridge Companion to C.S. Lewis
andldquo;Joy Davidman was manipulative, endearing, brilliant, and obsessiveandmdash;and C.S. Lewis, one of the most influential and beloved spiritual writers of the twentieth century, fell in love with all of it. A complicated woman for our time, Davidmanandrsquo;s search for meaning and her final arrival at love will resonate deeply long after the reader has closed Santamariaandrsquo;s masterful biography.andrdquo;
andmdash; Kate Buford, author of Native American Son: The Life and Sporting Legend of Jim Thorpe
andldquo;A tour de force. Plumbing the depths of unpublished documents, Santamaria reveals the vision and writing of a young woman whose coming of age in the turbulent thirties is both distinctive and emblematic of her time.andrdquo;
andmdash; Susan Hertog, author of Anne Morrow Lindbergh: Her Life
andldquo;This brilliantly researched biography has changed me for good. Until I read this book I could never take Joy Davidman to my heart; she now stands before me as real and believable as anyone I know.and#160;Joyand#160;offers a wonderful account of an unforgettable woman and her vibrant life; it is no wonder C.S. Lewis loved her so much.andrdquo;
andmdash;Walter Hooper, personal secretary to C.S. Lewis and editor ofand#160;The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis
Synopsis
The first full biography of Joy Davidman,and#160;known primarily as C.S. Lewisand#8217;s late-in-lifeand#160;bride,and#160;but who here receives her much deserved rescue from that shadow
About the Author
Abigail Santamaria earned an MFA in nonfiction writing from Columbia University and has been awarded fellowships from the Ragdale Foundation, Jentel Arts, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. She lives in New York City with her family. Joy is her first book.