What was C.S. Lewis’s final completed book of fiction, published in 1956?

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

The novel is a retelling of the Cupid and Psyche story, narrated by Orual, the ruler of the fictional kingdom of Glome. Its psychological focus distinguishes it from Lewis’s children’s fantasy and from the planetary adventures of his Space Trilogy. The narrative examines the conflict between genuine love and possessiveness, along with the human tendency to blame divine powers without understanding oneself.

Lewis published no later completed novel. That Hideous Strength, released in 1945, was the final volume of the Space Trilogy, while The Last Battle, published in 1956, was the concluding Narnia book but not Lewis’s final fiction in publication order. This distinction makes the question easy to misread.

Till We Have Faces received strong attention for its literary ambition and remains one of Lewis’s most discussed novels. Its title comes from the closing movement toward honest self-recognition.