Once Upon a Wardrobe by Patti Callahan

I fell in love with Patti’s writing of CS Lewis-type stories when I read Becoming Mrs. Lewis, and I’m excited to read her newest novel, out today!

Thank you Tandem Literary and Harper Muse for my gifted copy in exchange for my honest review.

Synopsis: Megs Devonshire is brilliant with numbers and equations, on a scholarship at Oxford, and dreams of solving the greatest mysteries of physics. She prefers the dependability of facts—except for one: the younger brother she loves with all her heart doesn’t have long to live. When George becomes captivated by a copy of a brand-new book called The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and begs her to find out where Narnia came from, there’s no way she can refuse. Despite her timidity about approaching the famous author, Megs soon finds herself taking tea with the Oxford don and his own brother, imploring them for answers. What she receives instead are more stories . . . stories of Jack Lewis’s life, which she takes home to George. Why won’t Mr. Lewis just tell her plainly what George wants to know? The answer will reveal to Meg many truths that science and math cannot, and the gift she thought she was giving to her brother—the story behind Narnia—turns out to be his gift to her, instead: hope.

This book is also just as beautiful as Becoming Mrs. Lewis. It’s sad, but she did a great job discussing how to heal and cope with sadness in life and the good that comes out of it. It’s a warming, feel good novel even with the sadness in it. I LOVE the Chronicles of Narnia, so this was such a cool way to talk about those stories again in a different breath. Beautiful!

5/5 Stars