If imitation is the highest form of flattery, then it’s no wonder that Christian artists want to follow C. S. Lewis. Author Tilly Dillehay reimagines Lewis ‘ The Screwtape Letters in My Darling Hemlock, which was released by Canon Press on October 1st, to inform female audience of both their own wickedness and God’s sustaining joy.  ,
Madame Hoaxrot and her young devil Hemlock are in charge of My Dear Hemlock‘s luring teen woman who has just converted to Christianity. The monsters are at her feet with temptations as the woman transitions from being a woman to a mother as she transitions from being a fiancée to a mummy. They are attracted to friends who complain and talk. Eventually, they try to utilize the fear of death to diminish her beliefs. However, despite their best efforts, Hoaxrot and Hemlock are unable to identify the person who is standing next to our Father ( I’m sure you may guess who that is ).  ,
Madame Hoaxrot smugly delivers tips from her seat at the deftly titled Ministry for the Diffusion of Women ( MAW).  ,” Some deceivers overlook this division because they’ve set their eye on the intoxicating, but constrained, violence of the female sex. They are dazzled by the splendor of war and murders”, she says. ” But I believe some avoid girl for another reason: they are threatened. Lady, as the Enemy intends her, is a dangerous, dirty, morbid thing, all practicalities and kindness”.
The spirits are no match for the power of meditation, confession, and great conventional kindness. For things keep the patient out of Screwtape’s arms in Lewis ‘ common too. Although The Screwtape Letters is intended for men simply, it is not intended for men who are Christians. Lewis effectively wove cultural, social, and religious remark into the storyline, making it a guide that applies to all Christians. Like Screwtape’s person, Religious men and women alike have faced sexual desire, social stresses, and parental strife.
Dillehay’s retelling of the female psyche explores a person’s desire to be desired and her propensity to associate caring with fuss and worry. Although the book’s social lessons are most suitable to ladies, Dillehay does manage to elevate the message of My Dear Hemlock to a higher level, bringing truths to all Christians. On such subjects, Madame Hoaxrot writes some remarkable one-liners. The calling of evil” sin” is regrettable and liberating for both the criminal and the sinner-sinned. ” All fear is good care”. ” A human pretending she wo n’t die is a human who fears death”. )
Dillehay deserves reward for capturing Madame Hoaxrot’s distinctive message. While Screwtape is therapeutic and cunning, Hoaxrot is sweet and judgmental, signing XOXOXO alongside veiled risks toward Hemlock. Gillehay adapts a number of the playful concoctions in the book to make them her own. I occupied the top left wheel of a Walmart shopping cart last week while on holidays. Carefully enjoyed”, Hoaxrot says at the beginning of one of her papers. The depiction of a demon forced to write reports for his or her excellent is extremely humorous. Demons are real, of course, but I doubt that they function in the satanic equivalent of human resource departments ( although some claim that is an oxymoron ).
Dillehay also expands on a strategy that is fundamental to Lewis ‘ movie, Screwtape Proposes a Toast. In the short tale, Screwtape compares and contrasts how criminals taste, with more evil making them more delightful. This idea is included throughout the book by Dellehay, and it’s the only cheesy statement that occasionally shifts the focus away from the book’s central theme of sin, which is a cartoon devil holding a pitchfork.  ,
In 1941, Lewis wrote The Screwtape Letters as a response to Londoners ‘ terrible experiences from World War II. Britain at home were fighting their personal battles, including attacks, rationing, and having their loved ones ensnared, and were encouraged by the weekly publishing of Lewis ‘ words in a Christian paper.  ,
In 2024 America, a unique war is being waged: a war of the women. Fresh men’s and women’s political ideas appear to be diverging like never before. As women’s successes in training and professions have grown, men’s participation in community has declined, bringing a host of issues for Gen Z men. Young people listen to Andrew Tate, and young people listen to Taylor Swift. They do n’t want to date each other, much less get married.  ,
My Dear Hemlock is a guide for people, whereas The Screwtape Characters is occasionally suggested for adolescent readers. Visitors who are old enough to marry ( or are already married ) should read Dalehay’s discourse of the marriage bed. Gender and who’s having it — or never having it — is a popular topic online. Redpilled blogosphere bros and man-hating radfems compete in a virtual world, but neither one always seems to succeed.  ,
Dillehay does n’t reference or refute these worldviews, but My Dear Hemlock offers a third way by virtue of its subject matter. If there’s one thing Hoaxrot does n’t want the husband and wife to do, it’s to have sex. It creates psychological friendship! It’s enjoyed for its own sake! And worst of all, it makes children! For a Christian wife, sex should n’t be a chore, a bargaining chip, or a shame-inducing act. In a Christian marriage, both flanks stoop their hands in a sex fight and know they can either win or lose separately. This shared success is represented by the wedding bed.  ,
Marriage and parenting are frequently a woman’s main cause of repentance, as My Dear Hemlock shows. ” Her relationship is the source of all this repulsive holiness,” she says. The relationship is out of hand, I write to inform you”, Hoaxrot howls. But this sanctification does n’t necessarily come from huge trials and tribulations. The young Christian learns to love her husband slowly, to listen to older and wiser girls, and to find peace in the patterns of family life. These steps are n’t attractive or spectacular, but through them, regular women live lives of remarkable devotion to God.
The young woman is made up of the demons by the demons, who want her to think she is special because she is strong enough to handle her own problems, wise enough to resist the influence of her friends, and very attractive to marry a regular guy. Gillehay also makes use of the new temptations offered by social media and smartphones, which are both things that Lewis did n’t use in his novel.
” The benefit for us is that our clients can be brought to the conclusion of a wasted life more carefully and easily than ever before,” Hoaxrot claims.
The universe may seem at Hemlock’s person and say she’s wasting her career, but God does n’t. The victim’s prayers may be easy and quick like her mother’s, but what counts is that she says them. Although her kids may become anxious and imperfect, what matters is that she values and exercises discipline on them. Even though her husband may not be the richest or most attractive, it is important that they may support one another when devastating news arrives.
Perhaps that’s the biggest lesson from My Lovely Hemlock. As the person realizes that her value comes from her obedience to God rather than her place in the world, Hemlock and Hoaxrot’s methods attract repentance and weight.  ,