What was the name of C.S. Lewis’s 1955 autobiography about his return to Christianity?

C.S. Lewis’s 1955 autobiography about his return to Christianity is Surprised by Joy.

The book traces Lewis’s intellectual and spiritual development from childhood through his conversion. It describes his early imagination, his loss of religious belief, his study of literature and philosophy, and the influences that gradually led him back to Christianity.

The title uses Lewis’s idea of “Joy,” a sudden longing or desire for something beyond ordinary experience. He treated this feeling as an important clue in his life, though he distinguished it from simple happiness or pleasure. The autobiography ends before the later public fame associated with Narnia and his radio talks.

Readers sometimes expect Surprised by Joy to provide a complete chronological account of every period of Lewis’s life. It is more selective and literary, focusing on the experiences and books that shaped his movement from childhood belief, through atheism, to Christian faith.