Which C.S. Lewis novel began his Space Trilogy?

Out of the Silent Planet began C.S. Lewis’s Space Trilogy.

The novel was published in 1938 and introduces Elwin Ransom, a Cambridge philologist who is abducted and taken to Mars, called Malacandra by its inhabitants. The story combines planetary adventure with philosophical and theological ideas.

Its two sequels are Perelandra, published in 1943, and That Hideous Strength, published in 1945. Together, the three novels form what is commonly called the Space Trilogy, although the settings and narrative emphasis change substantially from book to book.

The title’s “silent planet” is Earth, which is called Thulcandra in the series. A common mistake is to identify Perelandra as the first volume because it is often discussed as the trilogy’s most overtly symbolic installment; bibliographically, however, Out of the Silent Planet comes first.