What was the name of C.S. Lewis’s adult mythological novel published in 1956?

Till We Have Faces was C.S. Lewis’s adult mythological novel published in 1956.

The book retells the ancient myth of Cupid and Psyche from the viewpoint of Orual, a princess who becomes queen of the kingdom of Glome. Its title refers to the difficulty of truly seeing oneself and others before gaining an honest, unveiled identity.

Lewis considered Till We Have Faces one of his best works. He wrote it with Joy Davidman, whom he married in a civil ceremony in 1956. Unlike the Narnia books, the novel is aimed at adults and uses a psychologically complex first-person narrator.

The story draws on the classical myth but changes its emphasis substantially. Readers sometimes mistake it for a straightforward retelling of Apuleius’s Cupid and Psyche episode; Lewis instead uses the myth to explore jealousy, love, accusation, and religious transformation.