Which C.S. Lewis book, published in 1956, retells the Cupid and Psyche myth through the character Orual?

C.S. Lewis’s Till We Have Faces, published in 1956, retells the Cupid and Psyche myth through the character Orual. It was Lewis’s last completed novel and is often regarded as one of his most psychologically complex works.

The novel is set in the fictional ancient kingdom of Glome. Orual, the narrator, is the eldest daughter of the king. Her account examines love, jealousy, suffering, religious belief, and the difficulty of seeing oneself honestly.

The book draws on the Cupid and Psyche story from Apuleius’s ancient Latin novel The Golden Ass. Lewis changes the viewpoint and gives the myth a darker, more reflective treatment, allowing the narrator’s interpretation to become part of the central mystery.

Readers sometimes mistake the novel for a straightforward Christian allegory. Lewis himself described it as a retelling shaped by myth and personal insight, and its narrative ambiguity is central to its effect.