Till We Have Faces

C.S. Lewis considered this haunting reimagining of the Cupid and Psyche myth to be his finest work of fiction. Told from the perspective of Orual, the ugly eldest daughter of the King of Glome, this is the story of her consuming love for her beautiful half-sister Psyche—a love that becomes jealousy, and jealousy that becomes a complaint against the gods themselves. When Psyche is sacrificed to the mysterious god of the Grey Mountain and somehow survives, Orual's desperate attempts to save her sister set in motion a tragedy that will span decades. Now an aged queen approaching death, Orual writes her accusation against the divine: Why do the gods not speak to us openly? Why must they be dark and holy and beautiful, while we are left to grope in the shadows? But in the very act of making her case, Orual discovers truths about herself, about love, and about the gods that transform accusation into something far more profound. Weaving together Greek philosophy, barbarian ritual, and profound psychological insight, Till We Have Faces is Lewis's most complex and adult novel—a meditation on jealousy, self-deception, divine love, and the terrifying process of being truly known. Both beautiful and devastating, it remains one of the twentieth century's greatest works of mythological fiction.