Which C.S. Lewis novel features the fictional land of Narnia for the first time?

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe features the fictional land of Narnia for the first time in C.S. Lewis’s published Chronicles of Narnia. The novel was published in 1950 and follows Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy Pevensie after Lucy discovers a passage through a wardrobe.

Lucy enters Narnia first and encounters the faun Mr. Tumnus. The story then develops around the White Witch’s rule, the return of the lion Aslan, and the Pevensie children’s role in Narnia’s conflict. The book’s Christian symbolism is widely discussed, although Lewis described the story as a fairy tale rather than a simple allegorical retelling.

The Magician’s Nephew, published later, tells Narnia’s creation and is often placed first in chronological reading order. That later publication is why readers may encounter it as the opening story. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe nevertheless introduced Narnia to readers and was the first Narnia book Lewis published.