Join author Patti Callahan for a seven-part original podcast that explores in depth the improbable and beautiful love story between C.S. Lewis and Joy Davidman.
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Behind the Scenes of Becoming Mrs. Lewis Podcast Series
While writing her bestselling novel BECOMING MRS. LEWIS, Patti Callahan was inspired by numerous experts with scholarly, literary, and personal connections to Lewis and Davidman. Join her as she talks with these influencers, who include:
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Joy Davidman’s son and C.S. Lewis’s step-son, Douglas Gresham
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Drs. David and Crystal Downing, codirectors of the Marion E. Wade Center at Wheaton College
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Dr. Crystal Hurd, author, and editor for Sehnsucht: The C.S. Lewis Journal and Author, Dr. Andrew Lazo, who specializes in works from C.S. Lewis and Joy Davidman
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Scholar, speaker, Montreat College Professor and author of Yet One More Spring: A Critical Study of the Words of Joy Davidman, Dr. Don W. King
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Opening each episode we hear poetry from A Naked Tree: Love Sonnets to C.S. Lewis and other poems by Joy Davidman and edited by Don W. King.
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For more information about the podcast, and the novel, BECOMING MRS. LEWIS visit Becoming Mrs. Lewis, Patti Callahan, and Thomas Nelson. For more information about ordering the podcast, please visit: Order Behind the Scenes of Becoming Mrs. Lewis Podcast.
LISTEN TO MOST RECENT EPISODE. View all the available episodes below.
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Available everywhere you download podcasts.
Episode List
Behind the Scenes of
Becoming Mrs. Lewis Podcast Series
Trailer Teaser
September 12, 2019
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October 1, 2019
WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN PART I
—With Douglas Gresham
(before Joy's cancer)
October 8, 2019
WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN PART II
—With Douglas Gresham
(after Joy's cancer)
October 15, 2019
LOSING FAITH
Did Lewis lose his faith after Joy’s death?
—With Dr. David Downing
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October 22, 2019
WHY JOY?
—Why did Lewis choose Joy Davidman?
Dr. Crystal Hurd and Dr. Crystal Downing
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October 29, 2019
MUSE AND CO-AUTHOR
—Author Joy as Lewis’s muse and
co-Author with Andrew Lazo
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November 5, 2019
THE LOST LOVE SONNETS
—Joy’s poetry to C.S. Lewis with Dr. Don W. King
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November 12, 2019
SURPRISED BY LOVE
— How love found C.S. Lewis with Andrew Lazo
Podcast Audiobook
A special Podcast thank you from the Author and a personal intro — the upcoming Behind the Scenes of
Becoming Mrs. Lewis "The Podcast Audiobook."
Coming Jan 7, 2020
Available Now
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*Bonus Episode *
Writing Joy's Story for Television,
with Producer and Screenwriter
Todd Komarnicki
March 10, 2020
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Teaser
Introduction
Join author Patti Callahan for a seven-part original podcast that explores in depth the improbable and beautiful love story between C.S. Lewis and Joy Davidman.
While writing her bestselling novel Becoming Mrs. Lewis, Patti Callahan was inspired by numerous experts with scholarly, literary, and personal connections to Lewis and Davidman. Join her as she talks with these major influencers.
September 12, 2019
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Teaser Trailer
—with Host: Author Patti Callahan and guests
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Transcript
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Available everywhere you download podcasts.
Episode One
October 1, 2019
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WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN PART I
—with Douglas Gresham ( before Joy's cancer )
As Joy Davidman’s son and C.S. Lewis’s stepson, Douglas Gresham has a distinctly unique perspective on the love story that transpired between the two writers. Gresham shares with Patti his first years of knowing and meeting Lewis and explains how Joy and Lewis’s correspondence, romance, and marriage affected the entire Gresham family.
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End Notes
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Available everywhere you download podcasts.
Episode Two
When Douglas Gresham first learned of his mother’s cancer diagnosis, he very clearly heard the Lord say, “If you can’t make it, if you really can’t make it without your mother, I can fix it. All you have to do is ask.” Joy Davidman’s cancer later went miraculously into remission and gave her, her two children, and Lewis four more blissful years before fatally returning. In this episode, Douglas takes Patti through the years following his mother’s death and shares how her cancer diagnosis not only changed him but also changed the people whom he learned to call family.
October 8, 2019
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WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN PART II
—with Douglas Gresham ( after Joy's cancer )
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End Notes
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Available everywhere you download podcasts.
Episode Three
“No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear,” C.S. Lewis writes in his raw and beautiful book, A Grief Observed, which chronicled his heartbreak after losing his wife, Joy Davidman, to cancer in 1960. Many have read this text and have interpreted that Lewis might have lost his Christian faith after losing Joy. Patti joins Dr. David and Crystal Downing in Wheaton College’s Marion E. Wade Center to discuss how this grief impacted Lewis, his future writing, and ultimately, his Christianity. She discusses the fascinating essay “A Grief Obscured” by Dr. David Downing.
October 15, 2019
LOSING FAITH
Did Lewis lose his faith after Joy’s death?
—with Dr. David Downing
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End Notes
Download. Listen. Subscribe. Rate. Share
Available everywhere you download podcasts.
Episode Four
One of the questions that Patti asked while writing Becoming Mrs. Lewis was: Why Joy? Why was Joy Davidman the woman who finally ended Lewis’s long run as a bachelor? Patti speaks with Dr. Crystal Downing about how Dorothy Sayers introduced Lewis to an appreciation of brilliant, fiery women who bristled against cultural gender expectations. In another conversation, Dr. Crystal Hurd gives insight on how Lewis’s mother, Flora Lewis, also paved the way to Lewis finding his soul mate in the feisty Joy Davidman.
October 22, 2019
Why Joy?
Why did Lewis choose Joy Davidman?
—with Dr. Crystal Hurd and Dr. Crystal Downing
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End Notes
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Available everywhere you download podcasts.
Episode Five
Till We Have Faces, a retelling of the ancient story of Cupid and Psyche, is often hailed as one of C.S. Lewis’s most mature and sophisticated novels. In fact, Lewis himself credits the title as being one of his best books. Patti speaks with scholar Andrew Lazo about how Till We Have Faces was heavily influenced—and arguably co-written—by wife Joy Davidman and how Lewis’s other works show Davidman’s literary fingerprint.
October 29, 2019
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MUSE AND CO-AUTHOR
Author Joy as Lewis's muse and co-Author
—with Andrew Lazo
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End Notes
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Available everywhere you download podcasts.
Episode Six
Over 300 poems by Joy Davidman were never published during her lifetime and were, in fact, lost until quite recently. Dr. Don King has edited, analyzed and published them in his book Yet One More Spring: A Critical Study of the Works of Joy Davidman.
During their compelling conversation in this episode, Patti and Don discuss how Joy’s poetry reveals her desires, persistence, and even her pain.
Together, they also ask: Did Joy give Lewis these poems? And how do these poems reflect their love story? Quite racy in parts, Joy’s desire and love for Lewis is palpable in these lost sonnets.
November 5, 2019
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The Lost Love Sonnets
—Joy's poetry to C.S. Lewis with Dr. Don W. King
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End Notes
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Available everywhere you download podcasts.
Episode Seven
Today we’re going to chat with Andrew Lazo about Joy and Jack’s love story in the context of their work – how C. S. Lewis was surprised by love. ​
A once-proclaimed “confirmed bachelor,” C.S. Lewis found himself contradicted when he fell in love with Joy Davidman.
However, it is up for debate WHEN Lewis discovered this deep love for Joy. Scholar Andrew Lazo discusses how the letters and works of C.S. Lewis showcase his evolving self-awareness as he realized that he had helplessly fallen in love with the imperious Joy Davidman.
November 12, 2019
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SURPRISED BY LOVE
— How love found C.S. Lewis with Andrew Lazo
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Subscribe
End Notes
Download. Listen. Subscribe. Rate. Share
Available everywhere you download podcasts.
Jan 7, 2020
Podcast Audiobook
Available Now
A podcast "Thank You" from the Author and a personal introduction to the upcoming podcast audiobook.
Behind the Scenes of
Becoming Mrs. Lewis Podcast
For bonus podcast episodes + bonus and never-before-seen Becoming Mrs. Lewis chapters + a special letter from Patti Callahan to Joy Davidman:
On sale Jan 7, 2020
Audiobook Available Now
Available everywhere audiobooks are sold.
Bonus Episode
Writing Joy's Story for Television,
with Producer and Screenwriter Todd Komarnicki
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March 10, 2020 | Latest Breaking News!
Bonus Episode
Writing Joy's Story for Television,
with Producer and Screenwriter Todd Komarnicki
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In this bonus episode of Behind of Scenes of Becoming Mrs. Lewis, Patti sits down with author, film and television producer, and prolific screenwriter, Todd Komarnicki. Patti and Todd discuss their backgrounds in studying stories, and how their love of stories has translated into collaborating on the upcoming TV-series adaptation for Becoming Mrs. Lewis. Todd has penned several novels and has worked on numerous blockbuster films, such as Elf and Sully.
