Becoming Mrs. Lewis: The Improbable Love Story of Joy Davidman and C. S. Lewis

Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.

1. Joy struggles to balance her writing career with domestic expectations. When have you experienced similar tensions between personal ambition and external expectations?

2. What creative outlets have helped you navigate challenging periods in your life?

3. Describe a relationship in your life that began intellectually but developed into something deeper, similar to Joy and Jack’s correspondence.

4. Is there a place that represents safety and belonging to you in the way that the Kilns came to represent home for Joy? What about it gives you that feeling of security?

5. Joy confronts her father’s disapproval during his visit to England. Could you relate to this depiction of a family member struggling to understand an individual’s life choices?

6. What personas or “masks” have you adopted that later evolved as you discovered your authentic self?

Examine the book’s relevance to societal issues, historical events, or cultural themes.

1. What insights does the novel offer about expectations placed on women in the 1950s? How does its portrayal compare to that of a work like Wifedom, which follows the life of a different woman, Eileen Blair, married to a different famous author, George Orwell, in mid-20th-century Britain?

2. The Inklings were an exclusively male intellectual community. What parallels do you see with gender dynamics in intellectual or professional communities today?

3. What similarities do you observe between the public scrutiny of Joy and Jack’s relationship and how public figures’ private lives are judged in contemporary society?

Dive into the book’s structure, characters, themes, and symbolism.

1. What purpose does the recurring lion imagery serve throughout the novel?

2. Discuss how the structure of the correspondence between Joy and Jack before they meet shapes readers’ understanding of their relationship.

3. Beyond functioning as an antagonist, what purpose does Bill serve in the narrative?

4. What insights do Joy’s sonnets provide about her character?

5. What does the contrast between Joy’s marriages to Bill and Jack reveal about the novel’s perspective on love?

6. The author recreates conversations and interactions between historical figures. What techniques make these moments feel authentic (or not)?