Which C.S. Lewis book was written after the death of his wife, Joy Davidman?
Answer
A Grief Observed
Answer
A Grief Observed
A Grief Observed was written after the death of C.S. Lewis's wife, Joy Davidman.
Lewis wrote A Grief Observed after Davidman died from cancer in 1960. The book was first published in 1961 under the pseudonym N.W. Clerk, partly because Lewis did not initially want readers to identify the intensely personal account with him. It presents grief as a disruptive experience that challenges assumptions about love, prayer, suffering, and God's presence.
The work is arranged as a series of reflections rather than a conventional memoir. Lewis does not offer a simple or immediately reassuring account of bereavement; instead, he records anger, doubt, loneliness, and gradual change. The book is sometimes described as a theological treatise, but its direct emotional testimony is central. Davidman and Lewis had married in a civil ceremony in 1956 and later received a Christian marriage ceremony in 1957.
Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Oct. 2026