What was the surname of the author C.S. Lewis married in 1956?

The surname of the author C.S. Lewis married in 1956 was Davidman. Joy Davidman was an American poet, novelist, and essayist who became closely connected with Lewis during the final years of his life.

Davidman corresponded with Lewis before they met face to face in Oxford in 1952. Their relationship developed from friendship into marriage. Because Davidman was an American citizen living in Britain, the couple first married in a civil ceremony in 1956.

A Church of England wedding followed in 1957, after an Anglican cleric agreed to perform the ceremony. Their marriage lasted until Davidman’s death from cancer in 1960.

Lewis later published A Grief Observed, a candid reflection on bereavement. The book was first issued under the name N.W. Clerk, so readers sometimes overlook its connection with Lewis and Davidman. Her surname is also distinct from the surnames of Lewis’s literary friends J.R.R. Tolkien and Charles Williams.