If imitation is the highest form of flattery, then it’s no surprise that Christian writers want to imitate C.S. Lewis. In My Dear Hemlock, published Oct. 1 by Canon Press, author Tilly Dillehay reimagines Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters for a female audience to remind readers of both their own sinfulness and God’s sustaining grace.
My Dear Hemlock focuses on Madame Hoaxrot and her junior devil Hemlock as they tempt a young woman who has just become a Christian. As the woman transitions from fiancée to wife to mother, the demons are at her heels with temptations — to resent her husband for his imperfections, to engage in an emotional affair with a coworker, to gravitate toward friends who complain and gossip. Finally, they try to exploit the fear of death to weaken her faith. But try as they might, Hoaxrot and Hemlock just can’t figure out how to bring the woman to the side of our Father below (I’m sure you can guess who that is).
Madame Hoaxrot smugly dispenses advice from her perch at the cleverly named Ministry for the Absorption of Women (MAW). “Some tempters overlook this department because they’ve set their eyes on the heady, but limited, violence of the male sex. They are dazzled by the glories of wars and rapes,” she says. “But I believe many avoid woman for another reason: they are threatened. Woman, as the Enemy intends her, is a fearsome, nasty, morbid thing, all practicalities and gentleness.”
The demons are no match for
