Book Review: And God Came In

As I read Patti Callahan Henry's novel about Mrs. C. S. Lewis, I felt compelled to dig out an older book I own called And God Came In. Dr. Lyle W. Dorsett, then curator of the Marion E. Wade Center, wrote this brief biography (republished as A Love Observed). The staff at the Wade gave me an autographed copy in December 1984. I probably haven't pulled it out and read it in over a couple of decades. My heart bursts with love for both Lyle and his wife, Mary. They were so kind to me during my Wheaton years and treated me as if I were their child.

Joy Davidman lived a vibrant and tumultuous life. She was as brilliant as they come, with a nearly photographic memory. Pushed in her early years to excel, she graduated from college in her early teens. She declared herself an atheist and, later, a communist. Patti Callahan Henry's novel about her life begins with the moment God came in. Lyle does an outstanding job of revealing how significant Joy considered this abrupt introduction to the Almighty. Her life was changed. She was changed. She must have been a remarkable young woman! Her tenacity is awe-inspiring. Of course, the English considered her abrupt and loud (many Americans are). Still, she was an excellent sparring companion and like a flint for C. S. Lewis.

I guess the thing that jumped out at me the most from reading this book is not an observation about Joy, but one about myself. As I was reading, I came upon a passage from a C. S. Lewis letter. He abbreviated the word "would" with the letters "wd." I immediately recognized this abbreviation. It is one I use when taking notes during lectures or scrawling quickly in a journal entry. It makes total sense to me now that my notations are influenced by the time I spent transcribing C. S. Lewis' letters at the Wade Center. I am sure I picked up these shorthand methods from him.

When I mentioned this to my husband, he said it was completely understandable that I would absorb things from a man I admired. That's the thing, though. I would say I admired Lyle Dorsett far more than I admired C. S. Lewis. My favorite photo of Lyle accompanies this Christianity Today testimony in the September 2014 issue (by typing in the title of the article, "A Sobering Mercy," I was able to gain access to make a copy). Indeed, I had not even read any of Lewis' works when I began my transcribing work. The first Lewis book I read was Till We Have Faces, for a class taught at Wheaton by Frederick Buechner. Then, I picked up The Screwtape Letters. When my boys were small, I read some of The Chronicles of Narnia books to them and then finished the series for myself. At some point, I also tried to read his space trilogy but lost interest.

Some people prefer novels to biographies. If so, definitely lean toward Becoming Mrs. Lewis. But some of us enjoy biography. The details are fascinating. I love a thoroughly researched biography. Lyle did a great job! It makes me want to pick up another book from off my shelves, Lenten Lands, written by Joy Davidman's son, Douglas Gresham. I've read it before, but I might as well stay on this little Lewis kick.