Once Upon a Wardrobe by Patti Callahan

Once Upon a Wardrobe
by Patti Callahan

ISBN-13: 9780785251729
Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: Harper Muse
Released: October 19th 2021

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
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.


My Review:
Once Upon a Wardrobe is set in 1950 in England. The scenes mostly focused on Megs gathering stories from C.S. Lewis about events in his life that contributed to the story "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe." These were then told to her brother, who understood their importance more than Megs, the logic one. There were also scenes of her talking with a literature major about the importance of stories (specifically, fairytales). He felt that Meg's maths and physics may explain the universe, but stories give soul-soothing meaning to the cold, hard facts. Not a whole lot of time was actually spent developing the family relationships or, really, any characters except C.S. Lewis and maybe Megs. It seemed more of a philosophical debate than about these specific people. I didn't really feel attached to the characters (though that's just as well since the brother didn't get a happy ending).

There was no sex or bad language. Overall, this was an interesting way to learn more about how different events in C.S. Lewis' life may have influenced his Narnia stories.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.