And God Came in

And God Came In is subtitled "an extraordinary love story," and it is that. The story of the love between C. S. Lewis and Joy Davidman is told mostly from Joy's point of view, and their love only occupies about a third of the book. Maybe the love the title refers to is not that between Jack and Joy, but that between God and Joy? Dorsett begins with Joy's childhood in New York, tells of her years as a poet, then a communist propagandist. (Not glossing over the foolish things she said in defense of the Soviet Union.) He describes her relationship with her first husband, who does not come across as an ogre, though squarely to blame for the couple's troubles. He describes how Joy became disillusioned with communism, the growth of the couple's family, and her spiritual awakening. Dorsett handles the "and God came in" part well. It does sound like it was God who took the initiative. Dorsett neither downplays the mystical side of Joy's relationship to God, or her apparent healing, nor sensationalizes either. Joy could still be a pill! The twists and turns make the story itself interesting. It is also interesting because of Joy's rough honesty, and of course interesting to us die-hard Lewis fans. Dorsett is a judicious and informed story-teller; not brilliant, but wise enough not to not get in the way of the story. Douglas Gresham's Lenten Lands is a good complement to this book (I especially like the scenes that show Joy in her mother tigress mode), as, I expect, will be the third volume of Lewis' letters, due out late 2005 I think. Joy's Smoke on the Mountain is also still available, and pretty good, as I recall.

This was the first full-length biography ever published of Joy Davidman, who, though a noteworthy writer herself, would be most remembered as the wife of British scholar and author C.S. Lewis. The story of their marriage and of her tragic, premature death of cancer was already familiar to me from a number of sources, mostly focused on Lewis; yet I knew only generalities concerning Davidman's earlier life in America. Dorsett himself is not a flawless writer, but his work here is built on extensive research into his subject's many letters, the reminiscences of friends and surviving family, and her own writings. The endnotes at the back of my edition thus span eleven pages. Overall I found the account engaging and a helpful new perspective. The hardships (even those somewhat self-inflicted) of Davidman's younger years, and her once deeply ingrained biases, cast her later Christian faith in a fresh and more impressive light. I also gradually recognized this volume as the source of many details portrayed in the original 1985 BBC-TV rendering of SHADOWLANDS (superior to the 1993 cinematic version) which I had encountered nowhere else and long thought apocryphal. Although these two very different individuals certainly found (or were Led to) each other at a time when they needed the love and support their friendship and eventual marriage would provide, Dorsett is correct in asserting that Joy deserves better than to have her own life's record 'obscured by the shadow of C.S. Lewis'. I rather think Jack would have been the first to agree, and to applaud this admirable attempt at re-introducing the world to a remarkable woman of full humanity (with all the good and bad which that implies) yet ardent faith.