Which C.S. Lewis novel, published in 1950, was the first book released in The Chronicles of Narnia?

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was the first published book in C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia, appearing in 1950. It introduces the Pevensie children, the land of Narnia, and the lion Aslan.

The story begins when Lucy Pevensie enters Narnia through a wardrobe while staying in an English country house during the Second World War. Her siblings eventually follow, and the plot centers on Narnia’s struggle against the White Witch’s long winter. The book combines fairy-tale motifs, classical mythology, Christian imagery, and wartime displacement.

The Magician’s Nephew is earlier in Narnia’s internal chronology, because it tells of Narnia’s creation, but Lewis published it later, in 1955. That distinction explains why readers may encounter two different answers to questions about the “first” Narnia book: publication order begins with The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.