Which C.S. Lewis book is based on the myth of Cupid and Psyche?

Till We Have Faces is C.S. Lewis’s novel based on the myth of Cupid and Psyche. Published in 1956, it retells the ancient story from the viewpoint of Orual, the eldest princess of Glome.

The novel’s full title is Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold. Rather than reproducing the classical narrative exactly, Lewis explores jealousy, love, accusation, religious doubt, and the difficulty of seeing oneself honestly. The title refers to the need for genuine self-knowledge and transformed identity.

Lewis regarded the book as one of his best works, but it was less immediately popular than The Chronicles of Narnia. Its mature themes and complex narration place it closer to literary myth and psychological fiction than to children’s fantasy.

The source myth appears in Apuleius’s Latin novel The Golden Ass, where Psyche’s trials include tasks imposed by Venus. Lewis’s version changes the narrator and expands the moral and emotional questions surrounding the myth.