Once upon a Wardrobe

By: Patti Callahan

Narrated by: Fiona Hardingham

College student Megs Devonshire sets out to fulfill her younger brother George’s last wish by uncovering the truth behind his favorite story. What transpires is a fascinating look into the bond between siblings and the life-changing magic of stories.

1950: Margaret Devonshire (Megs) is a seventeen-year-old student of mathematics and physics at Oxford University. When her beloved eight-year-old brother asks Megs if Narnia is real, logical Megs tells him it’s just a book for children, and certainly not true. Homebound due to his illness, and remaining fixated on his favorite books, George presses her to ask the author of the recently released novel The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe a question: “Where did Narnia come from?”

Despite her fear about approaching the famous author, who is a professor at her school, Megs soon finds herself taking tea with C. S. Lewis and his own brother Warnie, begging them for answers.

Rather than directly telling her where Narnia came from, Lewis encourages Megs to form her own conclusion as he shares the little-known stories from his own life that led to his inspiration. As she takes these stories home to George, the little boy travels farther in his imagination than he ever could in real life.

After holding so tightly to logic and reason, her brother’s request leads Megs to absorb a more profound truth: “The way stories change us can’t be explained. It can only be felt. Like love.”

• From the New York Times bestselling author of The Secret Book of Flora Lea
• A captivating, standalone historical novel combining fact and fiction
• An emotional journey into the books and stories that make us who we are

©2021 Patti Callahan (P)2021 Harper Muse

Happy, thrilling, funny, sweet, poignant and uplifting - all of these

What a wonderful story. When a friend recommended this book I took her up on it but bought the audiobook. I'm so glad I did. (Now I'm eager to read other books written by Patti Callahan.)
It's the story of a girl who is studying mathematics at Oxford, and her 8-year-old, very sick brother. When George - after reading "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe by C.S.Lewis - asks his sister where Narnia came from, she begins a journey that will change her life and give George an adventure beyond his dreams.
Megs Devonshire approaches Mr Lewis (he is a professor at her school) with her brother's question and he leads her, story by story (which she writes out and reads to her brother), through the years of his life. It's not what the logical-thinking Megs wants, but George locks onto them, finding people and places in Narnia in Mr, Lewis's accounts.
He's enthralled with Aslan and begins to draw pictures of the stories Megs reads to him, always with the great Lion somewhere.

It's a book that is hard to put down. You know how the story will end, but you will it to go on and on. There is a sweet romance and an Epilogue that is totally fantastic.

Read this book! Or as I did, listen to it. Fiona Hardingham does an excellent job of narrating.

Brilliant!!

This is storytelling at its best. In this case it is storytelling about storytelling and the power it has, at its best, to profoundly move us. Anyone will enjoy this book. If you love the stories of Narnia and the writing of CS Lewis you are in for a lovely experience!

Perfect narration- lovely story

The narrator voice captures the characters in this story perfectly. I found the tale both engaging and moving. I loved it so much I’ve already listened to it twice.

Love this book

This book was magical. The narrator was exceptional. This is a book for people who love stories, love the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, love books and beautiful writing.

A True Gem

Patti gave us a beautiful story of a story, made even more magical by Fiona's narration. Definitely worth sharing and listening to again.

for lovers of Narnia stories

What a great story! it is sweet, funny, and touching. The narrator did a great job with the voices.

Amazing!

This is my first Patti Callahan book and it’s awesome! Performance was perfect! I couldn’t turn it off.

Best book and production I have listened to in years

I don’t usually give five stars, but this book deserves it. Both writer and reader were perfect. I could not have asked for more.

The book is about a young boy who is dying of a heart condition. After reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, he asks his older sister to visit CS Lewis and ask him where Narnia came from. She is a student at Oxford, though a she is physics student, not a literature student. Megs loves her brother so overcomes her fears to confront Lewis and ask him about Narnia. Lewis never really answers her questions, but he shares stories of his life in a series of visits that end at Christmas time.

The implied conflict in the story is between reason and faith, between the human attachment to the concrete and finite material world and the human need for meaning and purpose. In the unfolding stories of Lewis’s difficult life, Megs and George discover that there is something more to than the physical world, an eternal nature and being that moves and directs our stories. We are never alone and without hope.

For me, the only disappointment to the book is the author’s insistence that there be many ways of seeing things, of finding meaning. It is like she went to the edge of Lewis’s faith but refused to commit. Lewis was committed because he believed Christianity was truth, the only truth that united both physical and metaphysical into one reality. At the same time, however, the author repeatedly made references to the “true myth” and placed her story in the context of Christmas and Christian church with Biblical references. To be honest, I was not sure of her intended meaning.

This book is masterfully written and presented. The narrator captures the voice of every character perfectly. The author’s choice of words were perfect. She told her story with the precision of an artist choosing just the right hues for the message and character and scenes she painted in the minds of the listeners. Maybe it is because I have listened to so many books with too many unnecessary words lately, but this books stands out like a masterpiece amongst so much twaddle. Well done author Patti Callahan and narrator Fiona Hardingham.

Everything you want in a good book!

So meaty and moving. It is absolute perfection.
Fiona Hardingham is so pleasant to listen to.

Love This

I love this gently told story of family love and creative discovery. I’m definitely going to read more of this author.