Which book began C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia series in publication order?

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe began C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia series in publication order.

Published in 1950, the book introduces the fictional land of Narnia through a wardrobe discovered by four children: Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy Pevensie. Lucy is the first of the siblings to enter Narnia, where she meets the faun Mr. Tumnus.

The story features Aslan, the White Witch, and a winter that has lasted for a hundred years. Lewis wrote the books as imaginative fantasy rather than as a direct retelling of Christian scripture, although readers and scholars have long discussed Christian themes in the series.

A common source of confusion is the distinction between publication order and the internal chronology of Narnia. The Magician’s Nephew is set earlier in Narnian history, but The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was the first Narnia book published.