Who was the American-born writer whom C.S. Lewis married in 1956?

C.S. Lewis married the American-born writer Joy Davidman in 1956.

Davidman was born Helen Joy Davidman in New York City in 1915. She became a published poet and novelist and later converted to Christianity. Her correspondence with Lewis developed into a close friendship before their marriage.

The couple first underwent a civil marriage ceremony in April 1956 at Oxford Register Office. Lewis and Davidman then received a Christian marriage ceremony at Holy Trinity Church, Headington, in March 1957, after church authorities recognized their union.

Davidman was diagnosed with cancer and died in 1960. Lewis later wrote A Grief Observed, a deeply personal work responding to bereavement. Her life and relationship with Lewis are also represented in the film Shadowlands, though dramatizations do not reproduce every historical detail.