Looking For the King

“From the wild opening to the surprising ending, Looking for the King is the story of a fearless quest that crosses paths with our most beloved authors. Lewis and Tolkien both crackle to life with wit and intelligence. Dr. David Downing’s prose delights and enchants as he asks and answers the important questions of our lives while also solving a great mystery. I felt as if I had walked into Oxford and then settled into the pub to spy on the Inklings in action — how grand! A novel you won’t want to put down, and won’t want to end.” —Patti Callahan Henry, New York Times Bestselling author of Becoming Mrs. Lewis: The Improbable Love Story of Joy Davidman and C. S. Lewis

"This thrilling quest story reaches into the dark ages of England – the time of King Arthur and its tantalizing mysteries. That ancient world is fervently explored during wartime by young Americans, almost like pilgrims, who meet in a famous English bookshop, then find themselves puzzling over important clues they share together from archaeology, dreams and historic myths. A leading scholar of the life and work of C.S. Lewis turned his hand to creating this entrancing story, set in the early years of World War Two in the historic city of Oxford and a number of mythic places connected to ancient England. The story draws in C.S. Lewis the literary historian and famous author, and close friends of his called the Inklings. In so doing, David C. Downing has achieved the best fictional characterization I know of Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Williams and others in the hearty club of friends as characters in this captivating story. He brings them alive just as he does the student archaeologist Tom McCord and the other American visitor, Laura Hartman, haunted by eerie dreams. Laura agrees to join Tom in his absorbing quest to solve the mystery of the real King Arthur and a long lost Roman lance, the Spear of Destiny, believed to be the one that speared the side of the inert body of Jesus Christ at his crucifixion. The innocent pair, who are gradually attracted to each other, are repeatedly disrupted in their search for the invaluable relic by sinister strangers, who hide from them their connection with deadly wartime espionage. Despite the perils, the two gradually unearth the answer to their quest for King Arthur and the legendary lance, as unique as the Holy Grail itself, and the meanings of Laura’s strange dreams. As a result of their journeys around historic England, and their contact with C.S. Lewis and the Inklings, the two then return home, their friendship growing, carrying a new understanding of the world in its many dimensions, revealed through the ancient domain of King Arthur. Insights of the Inklings, from their own revealed quests, are subtly and memorably opened up for the contemporary reader, as they are for Tom and Laura." —Colin Duriez, author of The Oxford Inklings: Lewis, Tolkien and Their Circle and other titles on C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien