Who was C.S. Lewis’s wife and fellow writer, whom he married in 1956?

Joy Davidman was C.S. Lewis’s wife and fellow writer, whom he married in 1956. Born Helen Joy Davidman in New York City, she became known as a poet, novelist and essayist before moving to Britain.

Davidman first met Lewis in person in 1952, after corresponding with him about Christianity and other subjects. Their civil marriage in 1956 initially helped her obtain legal residency in Britain. Lewis later described their relationship as a true marriage, and they had a Christian ceremony that same year.

Their marriage was brief because Davidman was diagnosed with cancer and died in 1960. Lewis’s reflections on her illness, death and his grief were published after his death as A Grief Observed. The 1993 film Shadowlands dramatized their relationship, though it is a literary and cinematic adaptation rather than a complete biography.