A Grief Observed (Readers' Edition)

The perennial classic

This intimate journal chronicles the Narnia author's experience of grief after his wife's death, a work that has consoled readers for half a century. This edition features responses from renowned authors such as Hilary Mantel, Francis Spufford, Rowan Williams, Jenna Bailey, and others.

Praise for A Grief Observed

• Guardian:
  "An intimate, anguished account of a man grappling with the mysteries of faith and love ... Elegant and raw ... A powerful record of thought and emotion experienced in real time."
• Observer:
  "Raw and modern ... This unsentimental, even bracing, account of one man's dialogue with despair becomes both compelling and consoling ... A contemporary classic."
• Henry Marsh, The Times:
  "A source of great consolation ... Lewis deploys his genius for vivid imagery ... It is a relief for the reader to find that he or she is not alone in the intense loneliness or feelings of anguish that bereavement brings."
• Hilary Mantel:
  "Testimony from a sensitive and eloquent witness [on] 'The Human Condition'. It offers an interrogation of experience and a glimmer of hardwon hope. It allows one bewildered mind to reach out to another. Death is no barrier to that."
• Francis Spufford:
  "Here, sorrow and despair, the tiredness and numbness and petulance and nightmarishness of grief, all have their full, uncontrolled, experienced force ... [Such] radical openness ... Brilliant."

A Glimpse into the Journey

"No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear."

C.S. Lewis, the beloved Narnia author, had been married to his wife for four blissful years. When she died of cancer, he found himself alone and inconsolable in his grief.

In this intimate journal, Lewis writes with blazing honesty about the aftermath of bereavement and mourning. He confronts a crisis of religious faith, navigating through hope, rage, despair, and love. Yet, through this journey, he eventually regains his bearings and finds his way back to life.

A luminous modern classic, A Grief Observed has offered solace to countless readers for decades. This companion edition combines the original text with personal responses from Hilary Mantel, Rowan Williams, Francis Spufford, Maureen Freely, Kate Saunders, Jessica Martin, and Jenna Bailey.