Which C.S. Lewis book, published in 1961, reflects on grief after his wife’s death?

C.S. Lewis’s 1961 book A Grief Observed reflects on grief after his wife’s death.

Lewis wrote the work after Joy Davidman died of cancer in 1960. It records his anger, doubt, loneliness, and changing understanding of faith during bereavement. The book is unusually direct because it presents private spiritual and emotional questions rather than a polished argument.

The work was first published under the pseudonym N.W. Clerk. Lewis used the pseudonym partly because he did not want readers to approach the book simply as an author’s public statement. The author’s identity became known later, and modern editions generally use Lewis’s name.

A Grief Observed is often confused with Surprised by Joy, Lewis’s earlier autobiographical account of his intellectual and spiritual development. The two books have different purposes: one examines bereavement, while the other recounts a conversion journey.