Becoming Mrs. Lewis(126)
5. Joy often thought about her past—both her love affairs and her family life. How did the past influence her personality and decisions? How did it affect her self-esteem and self-love? How did she come out on the other side?
6. Joy and Jack enjoyed an almost three-year pen-friendship before ever meeting. Can friendships begin with words and notes? Can one become friends through letters alone? Can we be more vulnerable on paper than in face-to-face contact?
7. Joy wept when she left Davy and Douglas to board the SS United States the first time. Have you ever had to make a tough choice to “save your own life” or do what you thought might be the right thing for yourself but caused pain for yourself and others?
8. Many of Jack’s last books, most notably Till We Have Faces, were shaped by his friendship and love with Joy. Can you see her life and influence in his works written after 1950? If so, which ones and how? How did their co-writing, editing, and long talks affect his work?
9. Jack’s descriptions of Joy included this sentence: “My pupil and my teacher. My subject and my sovereign. My trusty comrade, friend, ship mate, fellow soldier. My mistress. But at the same time all that any man friend has ever been to me.” How did Joy not only change Jack’s life but also his heart?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Patti Callahan (who also writes as Patti Callahan Henry) is a New York Times bestselling author. Patti was a finalist in the Townsend Prize for Fiction, has been an Indie Next Pick, twice an OKRA pick, and a multiple nominee for the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA) Novel of the Year. Her work has also been included in short story collections, anthologies, magazines, and blogs. Patti attended Auburn University for her undergraduate work and Georgia State University for her graduate degree. Once a Pediatric Clinical Nurse Specialist, she now writes full time. The mother of three children, she lives in both Mountain Brook, Alabama, and Bluffton, South Carolina, with her husband.