Due to spam mail abuse the 'Tour Review' feature has been disabled for the time being.
Myself and my partner, Kerry, visited Oxford to soak up the surroundings and to research our production of the play, "Shadowlands" by William Nicholson, based on the story of CS Lewis and Joy Davidman. On arriving, we did not know where to start until we found a copy of Ronald K Brind's wonderful book. It really was like finding treasure as it is totally unlike any other book written about Lewis, of which we have read many. All of them are fascinating, but this one is truly personal. Mr Brind manages to convey a true sense of what the lives of these extraordinary people were truly like drawing on his first hand experience and providing us with such unique nuggets of information that can only be communicated by someone who was actually there.
In addition to this, Mr Brind's passion for ensuring that Lewis' legacy is more evident in his home city, nationally and internationally shines through every word.
The tour itself is quite indescribably inspiring and moving. We self navigated the route over the course of a couple of days and cannot really put into words what an amazing experience it was. The words and photographs provided are extremely clear and made the tour easy to follow, including so many places of interest that, by the time we had finished, we felt that we had really got to know "Jack" and Joy. Although it is difficult to pin-point just a few highlights as it is all so amazing, by visiting the hotel where it is very possible that the two initially met, Lewis' house, Joy's house, the crematorium at which is displayed Joy's epitaph and the gravestone for Lewis and his brother "Warnie" were particularly awe inspiring moments in a tour which we will never forget, and will take every opportunity to tell other people about, not to mention visiting again ourselves.
We also had the privilege of speaking to Mr Brind himself who was charming, kind, as passionate about his subject as his book had led us to believe, knowledgeable, and as grateful to us for expressing our delight in what he had written as we were to him for providing us this key into the lives of these very special people. This was very humbling, as we believe that what Mr Brind is doing for the memory of Lewis and those around him is truly remarkable. Although our production has now come to an end after a successful week of performances, our passion and interest in C S Lewis will remain undimmed, in large part due to Mr Ronald K Brind. We thoroughly recommend the book and the tour to all people of all ages. Even if you have not felt an interest in C S Lewis's life before this, you are sure to feel differently having read the book and been on the tour, which could well open up a lifetime interest. Thank You Ronald - Thank You x
Ms K. K. Joyce 'Oxford Don'
