Which C.S. Lewis work records his wife’s death and his grief?

C.S. Lewis’s work recording his wife’s death and his grief is A Grief Observed. The book was published in 1961 under the pseudonym N.W. Clerk, shortly after the death of his wife, Joy Davidman, from cancer. It presents direct, searching reflections on bereavement, prayer, anger, doubt, and love.

Lewis and Davidman had married in a civil ceremony in 1956 and later received a Christian marriage service in 1957. Her illness and death profoundly changed his circumstances. A Grief Observed is therefore markedly different in tone from apologetic works that present Christianity through structured argument.

The pseudonym initially concealed Lewis’s authorship, and the book was sometimes read without awareness that he had written it. Later editions identified him. Readers often connect it with The Problem of Pain, but the two books have different origins: The Problem of Pain is a theological treatment of suffering, whereas A Grief Observed is a personal account arising from one specific loss.