Which C.S. Lewis novel retells the Cupid and Psyche myth through a woman named Orual?

Till We Have Faces retells the Cupid and Psyche myth through Orual.

Published in 1956, the novel is set in the fictional ancient kingdom of Glome. Orual, the eldest daughter of the king, narrates a story shaped by family loyalty, jealousy, political power, and religious fear. The plot reworks material from the myth of Cupid and Psyche found in Apuleius’s Metamorphoses.

Lewis considered this novel one of his best works. Unlike the Narnia books, it does not present its themes through a children’s fantasy framework. Its narration invites readers to question how memory, self-justification, and incomplete knowledge influence a person’s account of events.

The title comes from the idea that complaints and accusations cannot be fully expressed until the speaker has a clearer understanding of the self. The novel’s central figure is Orual, not Psyche, making its perspective distinctive among adaptations of the myth.