What was the title of C.S. Lewis’s 1961 book about grief after his wife’s death?

A Grief Observed is C.S. Lewis’s 1961 book about grief after his wife’s death.

Lewis first published the book under the pseudonym N.W. Clerk. It consists of short reflections written after the death of his wife, Joy Davidman, from cancer in 1960. The work records his anger, doubt, loneliness, and changing understanding of faith rather than presenting grief as a tidy spiritual lesson.

The pseudonym initially concealed Lewis’s authorship, but later editions identified him. The book is often discussed alongside The Problem of Pain, published in 1940, because both address suffering. Their approaches are different: The Problem of Pain is a theological argument, while A Grief Observed is a personal and emotionally direct account written during bereavement.

Joy Davidman and Lewis had married in a civil ceremony in 1956 and later received a Christian marriage ceremony in 1957. Their relationship became an important part of Lewis’s later life and has inspired biographies, films, and stage adaptations.