Which C.S. Lewis memoir was first published under the name N.W. Clerk?

A Grief Observed was first published under the name N.W. Clerk.

The book appeared in 1961 as an intensely personal record of Lewis’s grief after the death of his wife, Joy Davidman. Writing under the pseudonym N.W. Clerk allowed Lewis to express anger, doubt, loneliness, and spiritual confusion without initially placing the work under his famous name.

The original title was A Grief Observed, and the text takes the form of short reflections rather than a conventional biography. Lewis examines how bereavement affected his understanding of prayer and God. The book’s directness differs from the more systematic argument of his apologetic works.

The pseudonym was later revealed, and subsequent editions were published under Lewis’s name. Readers sometimes connect the book with Surprised by Joy, but they serve different purposes: Surprised by Joy is an autobiography of Lewis’s intellectual and religious development, while A Grief Observed centers on mourning and faith after personal loss.