What pseudonym did C.S. Lewis use for his 1961 book A Grief Observed?

C.S. Lewis used the pseudonym N.W. Clerk for his 1961 book A Grief Observed. The book records his thoughts and questions after the death of his wife, Joy Davidman.

Lewis initially published the work under the pseudonym because he wanted readers to encounter the writing without immediately interpreting it through his public identity as a Christian author. The book is direct, emotionally unsettled, and markedly different in tone from a conventional theological treatise.

The pseudonym was later revealed, and subsequent editions were published under Lewis’s name. A Grief Observed is frequently discussed alongside Lewis’s biography because it offers an unusually personal account of bereavement and religious doubt.