"And so I dwindled into a husband. I never expected in my sixties to be afforded the happiness I was denied in my twenties. What was Joy not to me? She was my daughter and my mother, my pupil, my teacher, my subject, my sovereign, my mistress, my lover, and always my trusty comrade, friend, fellow soldier. We feasted on love!"

-- C.S. Lewis

The year 1950 was a significant one for C.S. Lewis. Not only was the first volume of The Chronicles of Narnia published ("The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe"), but he received a letter from American poet and novelist Helen Joy Davidman Gresham.

A correspondence began with former atheist and communist Davidman, who told Lewis his writings were one of the reasons that she had become a Christian.

Anyone who has seen the film or play "Shadowlands" is familiar with the story of bachelor Lewis and the woman who was in so many ways his intellectual match.

In 1952 Joy came to England with her two sons and met Lewis. A great friendship developed which deepened into love. For Lewis, who had felt he would live his life as a bachelor, this was a revelation.

In 1951, "Prince Caspian," volume two of the Narnia chronicles was published, followed by volume three, "The Voyage of the 'Dawn Treader'," in 1952.

From 1953-1956, the remaining volumes of The Chronicles of Narnia were published, "The Silver Chair," "The Horse and His Boy," "The Magician's Nephew," and "The Last Battle."

During his time with Joy, Lewis also published "Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life" (1955), "Reflections on the Psalms" (1958), "Studies in Words" (1960) and "The Four Loves" (1960).

In April of 1956, Lewis and Davidman were secretly married in a registry ceremony to keep Joy and her sons from being deported. Joy was diagnosed with bone cancer shortly thereafter.

She and Lewis were married in the Church of England from her hospital bed in 1957. She experienced an amazing remission, which allowed them to travel and spend a couple of years living an almost normal married life. Joy's cancer returned and she died on July 13, 1960 at the age of 45.

Lewis found himself grief stricken with two young boys who were trying to cope without a mother, This was an experience that was all too familiar to him, only this time, he was in the role of father almost too overcome with his own grief to deal with anything else.