Is Till We Have Faces C.S. Lewis' Best Book?

Published in 1956, C.S. Lewis’ novel Till We Have Faces doesn’t have the popular reception of works like The Chronicles of Narnia, Mere Christianity, or The Screwtape Letters. However, Lewis considered it his best work. Many scholars, such as Don W. King and Andrew Lazo, agree the novel is his best work.

His science fiction novel Perelandra is my favorite, but Till We Have Faces is certainly worth reading.

So what makes it such a notable book?

How Did Lewis Come to Write Till We Have Faces?

Till We Have Faces is a novel based on the ancient Greek myth of Cupid and Psyche. The idea for the book came early in Lewis’ writing career. When he was 18, a young atheist aspiring to be a poet, he read the story in Apuleius’ The Golden Ass and tried writing a poetic version of the story.

Years later, after his conversion to Christianity, Lewis decided to try his hand at a prose telling of the Greek myth of Cupid and Psyche. He started in 1955, a time when he felt that his creative output was waning. One day, after having a whisky with his future wife Joy Davidman at The Kilns, he was encouraged to start writing the book in prose. By finishing the novel, Lewis proved to himself that his creative abilities were not gone. He dedicated the book to Joy.

Lewis was originally going to title the book Bareface (a reference to the fact that the god Cupid appears wearing a mask until the story’s end). However, publisher Geoffrey Bles rejected the title on the grounds that it would not fit the story. Lewis chose the title Till We Have Faces, a very important line from the book.

What Is the Plot of Till We Have Faces?

The story of Till We Have Faces comes from the perspective of Orual, a woman living in ancient Greece’s polytheistic society. The beginning of the book begins as Orual’s case against the cruelty of the gods. Orual’s father, the king of Glome, takes a wife he hopes will bear him a male heir. To the king’s frustration, his wife dies while giving birth to a daughter, Psyche.

Orual, her sister Redival, and their tutor, the Fox, all love Psyche. Psyche proves equally beloved by Glome’s citizens. Some people living outside the palace are so taken with Psyche’s beauty that they seek healing from her, though she is only mortal.

However, Psyche’s birth brings bad omens. Eventually, plagues spread through Glome. The crops begin to fail. The river Shennit starts to dry. The temple priest of the Goddess Ungit demands a worthy sacrifice to restore the crops and stop the plague. The king is horrified and challenges Ungit’s Priest. After making numerous sacrifices to Ungit, the king declares the gods have betrayed him. However, he agrees to sacrifice Psyche to the gods.

Psyche is given over to the Shadowbrute in the mountain. Though she wonders whether it is a monster or a god, the Shadowbrute turns out to be the god Cupid, son of Ungit. Curious about what happened to her sister Psyche, Orual sets off on an adventure with the warrior Bardia, one of the king’s guards. Orual is shocked to find Psyche alive near where she supposedly died. In the conversation between Psyche and Orual, Orual is alarmed at what she perceives as Psyche’s delusion about being wedded to Cupid. The tension between the sisters becomes tragic as Orual seeks tests to determine whether “the god of the mountain” and his palace are real. The tests she prompts Psyche to make anger Cupid. Psyche is exiled from her lover, doomed to roam the earth as punishment.

Orual’s experiences confront her with where her human love erred, showing where she needs redemption. Her journey leads her to a place of surrender, repentance, and understanding.

What Themes Does Till We Have Faces Explore?

Lewis poignantly uses a mythic story to describe how human love must be redeemed by divine love. Love is a gift from Christ that should never be worshipped as a deity. Since we are fallen human beings, love between friends, family, and lovers can become idols. We all struggle with being possessive over someone, whether it be a family member, friend, or lover. It is in our nature. We worry. We don’t want to lose something we love. An innocent love can become something we place on a pedestal. Even with having good intentions, possessive love is very subtle. In His patience, Christ shows flawed, broken sinners how to see their love in proper proportion.

At the end of the book, Orual finally understands how possessive her love became and that it was not selfless. Orual begins loving Psyche as a sister, but she becomes jealous when Cupid, the god of the mountain, woos Psyche. Orual comes to have the revelation that in love, there is freedom.

This theme of human love needing to be redeemed by divine love is one of the main themes of Lewis’ nonfiction book The Four Loves, published in 1960. In this book (which Joy edited), Lewis uses Greek words to explore the four basic loves that make up our human existence: philia, storge, eros, and agape. The last chapter is about God’s love for humanity. Lewis ends the book by saying that friendship, affection, and romantic love are good but not enough. Every human experiences this reality at some point. The realization is often painful and difficult, raising existential questions. Lewis argues that divine love is needed to redeem these human loves. When these loves are centered in divine love, humans can enjoy them for what they were meant to be.

A second important theme Lewis weaves into the novel is the sehnsucht joy he discusses in his autobiography Surprised by Joy. This joy was central to Lewis’ life. Psyche’s yearning to find her home with the god of the mountain gives her the strength to know that when she is sacrificed to Ungit, she is being united with her beloved Cupid. The union with the lover correlates to Lewis’ spiritual journey from atheism to a life changed by Christ’s agape love.

How Did Joy Davidman Inform Till We Have Faces?

Joy gave feedback as Lewis worked on Till We Have Faces, helped Lewis write from a female perspective, and even typed some of the story in manuscript form.

However, her impact goes beyond just being a critique partner. Diana Glyer has written extensively on how Joy influenced the character of Orual. Just as Orual experiences redemption after reaching a place of surrender, Joy reached her place of surrender in a crisis period, culminating in an encounter with Christ.

Learning More about Till We Have Faces

Christine Norvell wrote a companion reading guide to Till We Have Faces, published in 2017. An expanded edition was published in 2020.

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David Bates’ Pints With Jack podcast is another helpful resource for understanding the complexity of Lewis’ Till We Have Faces. Across over a dozen episodes (helpfully collected here), Bates and co-hosts Matt Bush and Andrew Lazo discuss important themes in the book.

Photo Credit: © Getty Images/tomertu

Justin Wiggins is an author who works and lives in the primitive, majestic, beautiful mountains of North Carolina. He graduated with his Bachelor's in English Literature, with a focus on C.S. Lewis studies, from Montreat College in May 2018. His first book was Surprised by Agape, published by Grant Hudson of Clarendon House Publications. His second book, Surprised By Myth, was co-written with Grant Hudson and published in  2021. Many of his recent books (Marty & Irene, Tír na nÓg, Celtic Twilight, Celtic Song, Ragnarok, Celtic Dawn) are published by Steve Cawte of Impspired. 

Wiggins has also had poems and other short pieces published by Clarendon House Publications, Sehnsucht: The C.S. Lewis Journal, and Sweetycat Press. Justin has a great zeal for life, work, community, writing, literature, art, pubs, bookstores, coffee shops, and for England, Scotland, and Ireland.