Once Upon a Wardrobe by Patti Callahan

 

What is the last book or movie that made you cry?

In Once Upon a Wardrobe, Megs Devonshire is a seventeen-year-old math student at Oxford in 1950.  Her seven-year-old brother George has a weak heart and is dying.  He has just read a wonderful new book, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis.  He knows that C.S. Lewis is a professor at Oxford, and he ask Megs to find out, where did Narnia come from?  Megs follows C.S. Lewis home and is discovered sitting on his fence by his brother Warner.  They invite Megs in and start to tell her the story of his life.  What do all of these stories have to do with where Narnia comes from?  Megs takes the train home on the weekends and tells her brother the stories of “Once Upon a Wardrobe.”  Why can’t Megs get a straight answer from “Jack” Lewis?

This was a beautiful story.  It was the story of the love between siblings, and how to deal with the end of the life of someone that you love.  It is also the story of “Jack” Lewis growing up and how these formative years played into his writings.  I felt for Meg. As a mathematician she wanted a direct answer – what is the meaning of the book?  How can she save her brother?  But life sadly is not a math equation with a direct answer.  The book was sad and made me cry, but it also had a heartwarming ending.

I really need to read Patti Callahan’s novel about the wife of C.S. Lewis, Becoming Mrs. Lewis.  There is a note at the end of the novel by actor Douglas Gresham, one of Lewis’ stepsons from his marriage to Joy.  He fully endorses the novel and Becoming Mrs. Lewis.  It was a nice surprise.

Favorite Quotes:

“Reason is how we get to the truth, but imagination is how we find meaning.”

“Some babies are born closer to the end of their story than others, and this little boy was one of those.”

“With stories, I can see with other eyes, imagine with other imaginations, feel with other hearts, as well as with my own. Stories aren’t equations.”

Overall, Once Upon a Wardrobe by Patti Callahan is a beautiful and unique story.  I highly recommend it.

Book Source:  A Review Copy from NetGalley and Harper Muse.  Thank-you! I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.