What 1956 novel was C.S. Lewis’s final work of fiction?

Till We Have Faces was C.S. Lewis’s final work of fiction, published in 1956.

The novel retells the ancient myth of Cupid and Psyche from the viewpoint of Orual, a queen in the fictional kingdom of Glome. Its subtitle, A Myth Retold, signals Lewis’s method: he reshapes a classical story rather than simply reproducing its original version.

Till We Have Faces is often considered more adult and psychologically complex than the Narnia books. It explores love, jealousy, religious doubt, self-knowledge, and the ways people construct stories about their own motives. Lewis regarded it as one of his best books.

The title reflects a central idea in the novel: people may not truly confront the gods, or even themselves, until they possess an honest identity. Readers sometimes name The Last Battle as Lewis’s final fiction because it was the last Narnia novel, but Till We Have Faces was published later.