Which C.S. Lewis book was published under the pseudonym N.W. Clerk?

A Grief Observed was published under the pseudonym N.W. Clerk. C.S. Lewis wrote the 1961 book after the death of his wife, Joy Davidman, and used the pseudonym because he wanted readers to confront the experience rather than his public reputation.

The book is a series of reflections on bereavement, anger, doubt, memory, and the difficulty of reconciling suffering with belief. Its short sections preserve the immediacy of private notebooks rather than presenting a formal theological argument.

Lewis and Davidman had married in 1956. She died of cancer in 1960, and her illness and death profoundly affected him. The original pseudonymous publication led some early readers to treat the author as an unknown bereaved writer.

The book was later identified as Lewis’s work and is now commonly read alongside his apologetic writings. It is distinct from The Problem of Pain, which examines suffering in a more systematic and philosophical way.