"A soul straight, bright and tempered like a sword. But not a perfected saint. A sinful woman married to a sinful man; two of God's patients, not yet cured." - C. S. Lewis, A Grief Observed.

Joy was a Jewish born, Bronx raised, ex-communist divorcee that ended up marrying one of the greatest Christian thinkers of the 20th century. Many will already know her from the film 'Shadowlands' or from C.S. Lewis' touching autobiography 'Surprised by Joy', but what you will not know is that Joy led a fascinating life in a troubled time in American history.

Joy announced she was an atheist at the age of eight, won the Yale Young Poets Award and was often found attending rallies for social justice. Absorbed in the world of literature and poetry she married a fellow New York author/musician and together they struggled through poverty and parenthood, often with the not-so-advised help of alcohol. Seeking answers Joy and her husband become involved in Dianetics (the controversial pseudo-science/religion of sci-fi writer Ron L. Hubbard).

After an extraordinary conversion experience Joy became a Christian, read the works of C.S. Lewis, and began sending him letters. This eventually led to her buying a plane ticket to England and tracking down her intellectual equal she had fallen in love with. Though completely unexpected, their relationship blossomed and the unlikely pair were considered a marvelous marriage of equals by their closest friends. It seems that Joy had a profound effect on her husbands life, so much so that this remarkable love story has even been made into a Broadway play.

Joy Davidman Gresham is known, if she is known at all, as the wife of C. S. Lewis. Their marriage was immortalized in the film Shadowlands and Lewis's memoir, A Grief Observed. Now, through extraordinary new documents as well as years of research and interviews, Abigail Santamaria brings Joy Davidman Gresham Lewis to the page in the fullness and depth she deserves.

A poet and radical, Davidman was a frequent contributor to the communist vehicle New Masses and an active member of New York literary circles in the 1930s and 40s. After growing up Jewish in the Bronx, she was an atheist, then a practitioner of Dianetics; she converted to Christianity after experiencing a moment of transcendent grace.

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. Davidman 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.