What is the title of C.S. Lewis’s 1950 fantasy novel that begins The Chronicles of Narnia?

C.S. Lewis’s 1950 fantasy novel that begins The Chronicles of Narnia is The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

The book introduces the four Pevensie children—Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy—who discover the magical land of Narnia through a wardrobe. Narnia is under the rule of the White Witch, whose magic has produced a long winter without Christmas. The lion Aslan eventually returns, setting the central conflict in motion.

The novel was first published in the United Kingdom by Geoffrey Bles in 1950. Lewis dedicated it to his goddaughter, Lucy Barfield, whose name inspired the character Lucy. Although it is often read first, publication order and internal chronological order are sometimes discussed separately. The Magician’s Nephew is set earlier in Narnian history but was published later.

The story is widely noted for Christian imagery, especially in its treatment of Aslan’s sacrifice and return. Lewis did not write the books as direct allegories in which every character has only one fixed real-world counterpart; he described them as imaginative retellings of Christian ideas.