Which C.S. Lewis book retells the myth of Cupid and Psyche?

Till We Have Faces retells the myth of Cupid and Psyche. C.S. Lewis published the novel in 1956, calling it his own version of the ancient story rather than a straightforward modern translation.

The narrator is Orual, queen of the fictional kingdom of Glome. She is Psyche’s older half-sister and tells the story from her own perspective. This change in viewpoint allows Lewis to examine jealousy, love, self-deception, sacrifice, and the human tendency to accuse the gods without understanding the whole truth.

The title comes from the novel’s concern with identity and truthful self-knowledge. The book’s subtitle, A Myth Retold, signals its relationship to classical mythology. Lewis had long been interested in myth, and the novel represents one of his most ambitious works for adult readers.

The book is sometimes mistaken for a retelling of a biblical story because Lewis was a Christian writer. Its central source is instead the Cupid and Psyche episode in Apuleius’s The Golden Ass, although Lewis substantially reshapes the characters and themes.