I have decided to be both generous and pithy, and give you a summary of this post before the actual body of the post. Begin Summary:
Injustice! C.S. Lewis’ best book, the best story he ever wrote, is ignored! No one knows about it!
End Summary.
I have learned by now that sometimes the best way to convince someone of a truth is by showing them, not telling them. But isn’t it funny? Sometimes you can show someone, by telling them. For instance, only minutes ago I have set down Till We Have Faces. It is a novel set in the distant past, in a place where philosophy and science are newborn and the gods and religion may or may not be real. But that is a poor summary, and if I tried to tell you any more about it I would not do it justice and you would probably get bored and leave.
So, I want to show you what I mean. And all I can do to show you how good it is is to tell you to read it.
But I will do more than that, because even though I can’t do it justice in words, I must say something about the book or burst! It is certainly the best book I have read in a long time. It is on the same level of depth and artistic intensity as The Lord of the Rings, which is to say it is both a good piece of art and a good piece of philosophy. Ever since I was a small child I have read and re-read Lewis’ Narnia and Tolkien’s Hobbit, and as I got older I discovered Lewis’ Space Trilogy and Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. Somehow, though, this one book evaded me. Strange. It’s Lewis’ last novel, and many people (I am only now meeting them) think it is his best. All I can say on that point is… yes. Probably. It is what I would call a beautiful book, and I mean that in the truest Form of the word.
Several things which others (including the publishers of this book) will say: It is a tale of Cupid and Psyche. It is a story of Greek Mythology. It is an allegory. It is Narnia for adults. All of these things are true, in a way, but not a very big way. The name Cupid never shows up in the book. The Greek Mythology is only on the fringes: you hear about the Greeks, and the world the novel is set in is vaguely Ancient History, but there is no recognizable pantheon, and what mythology is in the book seems wholly new when you finally find it. (At least to me – perhaps a mythology buff would recognize the Greek elements sooner.) As for being an allegory, or an adult Narnia… No. It just isn’t. Rather, it is a book for people who want serious (meaning well-written) fiction, with something deeper at the core then “will she escape the kidnappers and find her boyfriend again?”
This is a book for people who read Narnia and found it’s story pleasing but its faith and portrayal of another world “too simplistic.” This is also a book for people who loved Narnia, and yet want something deeper: an answer to the hardships and darkness that have risen since childhood left them. If Narnia is a fantasy (I use the word cautiously, don’t mistake me) for the child in each of us, Till We Have Faces is a story for the full-grown lover (or hater) in us. Like the Song of Songs in the Bible, this is not for just anyone to read. You must have some grasp of reality, of maturity, to glimpse its meaning. But it is a good meaning, in the end.
And that, for now, must be enough.

~GJD