Which C.S. Lewis novel introduces the fictional world of Narnia?

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe introduces readers to C.S. Lewis’s fictional world of Narnia.

Published in 1950, the novel follows four siblings—Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy Pevensie—who discover a passage into Narnia through a wardrobe. Lucy is the first of the children to enter the other world, where she meets the faun Mr. Tumnus.

The story presents major Narnian figures including Aslan, the White Witch, and the talking animals of the kingdom. Its publication made it the entry point for generations of readers, even though The Magician’s Nephew is earlier in Narnia’s internal chronology.

That difference explains why some editions list The Magician’s Nephew first. Lewis originally wrote and published the books in a different sequence, and publication order remains a standard way to encounter the series. The novel is the second book in the internal chronological sequence used by many modern editions.