Till We Have Faces

A Myth Retold

By: C. S. Lewis

Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon

Length: 8 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

C. S. Lewis reworks the timeless myth of Cupid and Psyche into an enduring piece of contemporary fiction in this novel about the struggle between sacred and profane love.

Set in the pre-Christian world of Glome on the outskirts of Greek civilization, it is a tale of two princesses: the beautiful Psyche, who is loved by the god of love himself, and Orual, Psyche's unattractive and embittered older sister, who loves Psyche with a destructive possessiveness. Her frustration and jealousy over Psyche's fate sets Orual on the troubled path of self-discovery.

Lewis's last work of fiction, this is often considered his best by critics.

©1956 C. S. Lewis PTE, Ltd. (P)2000 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"In Mr. Lewis's sensitive hands the ancient myth retains its fascination while being endowed with new meanings, new depths, new terrors." (Saturday Review)

"Whenever Nadia May reads, a sensation of comfort creeps into the atmosphere. Her vocal clarity and understanding of the author's meaning bring pleasure and even security to the listening of each work." (AudioFile)

"The most significant and triumphant work that Lewis has...produced." (New York Herald Tribune)

An Unusual re-telling of a greek myth

I have never heard of this book before I stumbled across it on Audible.

According to Wikipedia and the book’s introduction, this was a book Lewis was thinking about from his early days in college. It is a retelling of the myth of Cupid and Psyche. (Although I had no idea what the myth was till after I read the book.)

The basic story is that a princess, Orual, raised her sister after the death of her step mother in childbirth. The sister, Psyche, was the most beautiful girl anyone had ever seen while Orual was very ugly. The sisters were separated and the younger sister was married to a God. But the Orual was convinced that the God was not real or that if there was a husband, it was actually a man that was wrong for her sister. She convinces Psyche to violate the conditions of the marriage and the God leaves. But Orual and Psyche are not reunited.


Orual, after living as Queen and ruling her country well for many years, writes a book of complaint against the Gods over her losses and bad treatment.



It is a well written and interesting story, but very different from anything else I have read of Lewis. While it clearly deals with religious themes and the concept of love, meaning and calling, it is not direct allegory like what some of Lewis’ other books are.

Obviously you do not need any background in the original Greek myths, since I did not know anything about them first. But you may enjoy it more.

Text and reader need to connect for it to work

Love author, story. Reader's voice not suited to the task for me. Disappointed.

Would like to hear by another, please.

A beautiful myth retold for our understanding

This is the retelling of the ancient myth of Cupid and Psyche. I am not educated in philosophy and have often found myths very intriguing but also very frustrating because they seem to make no sense, and you know you're missing much of the "real" meaning. Without the understanding, they're just fairy tales, often poorly translated from time and languages long gone. But C. S. Lewis has made this one come alive! Though he's a man, his protagonist is a very creditable woman, so very human, so very complex and becoming ever more so throughout her life in this story. He has made her almost real ... and he has made the story "real" by making it believable, by explaining. Ironically, one of the themes of the story is that the "gods" fail us by not explaining their real meanings in ways we can understand. If you love to think about what makes you a better person and what makes you fail to be that better person, and if you want to feel at home with all the multitudes who feel the same way, each thinking it's his own grief, then this tale will enrich you and entrance you. And the narrator did such an excellent job reading both the descriptions and dialogs that I don't think it could have been done better. I absolutely loved this book.

Beautiful Merge or Myth and Truth

As is the case for all of C.S. Lewis' writings, Till We Have Faces is filled with intrigue, wonder, suspense, and truth. It uses powerful imagery to portray to the listener exactly what was in the mind of Lewis when he wrote it. The character development and story arch are beautiful.

Nadia May gives a great performance by providing alternate voices and tones for each of the characters. It is clear and articulate. It takes one back to a traditional, romantic mindset while listening to her voice read through one of C.S. Lewis' wonderful stories.

This is a great book!

AUDIBLE 20 REVIEW SWEEPSTAKES ENTRY

A perfect synergy of story and philosophy

This accomplished the near impossible: making me an even larger fan of C.S. Lewis. Beyond being a very effective and engaging narrative this shows a keen knowledge of history and myths and the development of cultures and their interactions. The main character is a perfectly drawn in that she has many admirable features and goes through much development, yet remains flawed in the Greek tragic style of a sort of fissure at the core of her personality which can't seem to be fixed. Anyone who enjoys Greek and Roman myths or C.S. Lewis's works should love this, but it is possibly his most psychologicaly and morally complex work without distracting from the story.

Audio quality was outstanding.

The narrator did a great job.

I've already been through this twice, and will likely give it another go through in the near future.

Performance makes the story

I'm a big Lewis fan and own this book in print but was never able to get into it after many tries. I thought that an audiobook might help me force my way through it. Instead, Nadia May's performance made the story come alive. She helped me understand Orual and made the archaic style which felt awkward in print feel more natural. I can now say that Til We Have Faces ranks among my favorite works of Lewis. Certainly it is his finest and most sophisticated work of fiction.

AUDIBLE 20 REVIEW SWEEPSTAKES ENTRY

Far better than I ever guessed

I bought Til We Have Faces a couple of years after I first 'discovered' it's author but never managed to read past the first chapter. What a joy it has been to hear the story read by Nadia May! She has a particular talent for speaking in a different way for each of Lewis' characters-- a huge help when listening to a book rather than reading it! So now I must wait a little before hearing the tale told again. I will try to be patient.
Sherry Thompson

awesome book

loved the story, and the narrator did a wonderful job. We were glued to the story.

A wonderful book, very well read

I loved every minute of it, but I am a long-time C.S. Lewis fan. It was not what I expected, since it has virtually nothing to do with Christianity.

Profound and utterly heart wrenching.

I love this book.

I love it like I love breathing. The first time I read it, I was sixteen. I thought when I received it as a gift that it would be dry, boring... but I was riveted from page one.

Till We Have Faces, though an older book, is still highly relevant today. It is about how dangerous and selfish love can be, and how even the most well-intentioned people can destroy those they care for.

I highly, highly recommend this book.