Once Upon a Wardrobe by Patti Callahan Henry

 

I listened to the unabridged audio version of Once Upon a Wardrobe by Patti Callahan Henry, which is well narrated by Fiona Hardingham.

Once Upon a Wardrobe is my first experience with anything written by Patti Callahan Henry. I was drawn to Once Upon a Wardrobe for two main reasons. The first reason is that Once Upon a Wardrobe is a work of historical fiction and I am a fan of historical fiction. The second reason is its tie in to The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis.

I enjoyed this novel overall. It has a nice plot/storytelling and good characters. However, I wasn't overly captivated by it as I'd hoped I'd be.

Below is the publisher's summary for Once Upon a Wardrobe by Patti Callahan Henry from the Goodreads website:

Megs Devonshire sets out to fulfill her younger brother George’s last wish by uncovering the truth behind his favorite story. The answer provides hope and healing and a magical journey for anyone whose life has ever been changed by a book.

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 “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 slowly tells her 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.

Lewis’s answers will reveal to Megs and her family 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, hope.

I am giving Once Upon a Wardrobe by Patti Callahan Henry a rating  of 3 stars out of 5 stars.

Until my next post, happy reading!!