Which C.S. Lewis autobiography recounts his conversion and changing religious beliefs?

Surprised by Joy is C.S. Lewis’s autobiography about his intellectual and religious development.

Published in 1955, Surprised by Joy describes Lewis’s childhood, education, service in the First World War, and movement from childhood Christianity to atheism and then back to Christian belief. The title refers to “joy,” a term Lewis used for an intense, sometimes painful longing sparked by experiences of beauty and imagination.

The book is not a complete account of every part of Lewis’s life. It ends before many of his most famous later works and before his marriage to Joy Davidman. Lewis also acknowledged that autobiographical memory is selective, so the work is best read as an account of spiritual and intellectual formation rather than a comprehensive diary.

A frequent mix-up is A Grief Observed, which concerns mourning after Davidman’s death and was published under a pseudonym.