Which C.S. Lewis autobiography describes his conversion and early life?

Surprised by Joy is C.S. Lewis’s autobiography describing his early life and religious conversion. It was published in 1955 and covers his childhood, education, military service, intellectual development, and movement from atheism toward Christianity.

The title refers to “joy,” a powerful longing that Lewis associated with experiences of imagination, literature, and beauty. He distinguishes this fleeting desire from ordinary happiness and treats it as an important feature of his spiritual and intellectual journey.

The book ends before the later fame of the Narnia novels and before Lewis’s marriage to Joy Davidman. It should also be distinguished from A Grief Observed, which is a series of reflections on bereavement, and The Pilgrim’s Regress, which is an allegorical novel. Surprised by Joy is the work most directly focused on Lewis’s own formative years and conversion story.