Which C.S. Lewis work is the second book in the Ransom Trilogy?

Perelandra is the second book in C.S. Lewis’s Ransom Trilogy, also called the Space Trilogy.

Published in 1943, Perelandra follows Out of the Silent Planet and precedes That Hideous Strength. The story sends Elwin Ransom to Perelandra, a world Lewis associates with the planet Venus. There he encounters a newly created world whose future depends on moral choice and resistance to corruption.

The novel develops Lewis’s interest in planetary mythology, language, free will, and Christian theology. Its setting is very different from Earth, including floating islands and a distinctive natural environment, but the central conflict remains recognizable as a struggle over obedience and temptation.

A frequent ordering mistake comes from the trilogy’s alternate name, the Ransom Trilogy, because readers may focus on the protagonist rather than publication sequence. The correct order is Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength. Perelandra is therefore the middle volume, not the opening or concluding book.