C.S. Lewis
Till We Have
Faces
Characters:
Oural- a brave and
skillful woman who can fight in wars with the men of her kingdom
Psyche- a proclaimed
goddess who has made a great offering to a great and mighty goddess.
King- an unpleasant
man who has terrible rages
Bardia- a soldier
who protects the King
Fox- a Greek slave
who is the adviser and is like a grandfather to Oural and Psyche
Redival- Oural's rude and unkind older sister
What was the book about?
The book Till We Have Faces by CS Lewis is a version of the myth called Cupid and Psyche. A girl, Oural, who has lived a very long time, tells this story. When Oural was about 11, her father was the King of a city called Glome. Her father beat her when he was mad, so she would have big, black, ugly bruises all over her body. She was also very afraid of women whom her father liked and wished to marry. One day, her father met a woman and asked her to marry him. A few days later the king and the woman were married. Oural did not like the new queen and was afraid that her father would beat her more if he were in a terrible rage with the Queen. The Queen had a baby and named her Psyche. Soon after the Queen had her baby the Queen died. Oural loved the baby very much. It was up to Oural, her sister Redival, and the Fox (a Greek slave) to take care of the young girl, called Psyche.
When Psyche had grown older, she had become as beautiful as ever. A great sickness had come around to the city of Glome and the townspeople believed that only she could heal the sick. As soon as Psyche had touched every single person in the city of Glome [which is millions] she got the sickness herself! After some time, Psyche got rid of the sickness. All of the townspeople thought that Psyche was not really a goddess of peace because some people had died. They thought Psyche was a demon of the underworld posing as a mortal in disguise. So they decided that she should be the Great Offering to their goddess. They tied her to a tree and left her. As their legend told them, whoever was sacrificed had to become either the Wife of the Brute, or the Husband of the goddess. Since Psyche was a girl, she would become the Wife of the Brute.
Oural was very upset because she didn’t want her sister to be the Great Offering. She went to go find Psyche after the Great Offering to see if she could find what was left of her sister. Twice she went past the mountain and into a great and beautiful valley to look for Psyche. As Oural saw all of this, on the other side of the river she saw Psyche. She was so amazed that her sister was alive after all of that time!
In the end, Oural is proclaimed the goddess of the kingdom.
Did you enjoy the book?
The part I most enjoyed was when Oural had become queen and had been in wars with the men of her kingdom. She was also proclaimed a goddess because she had done great things for her kingdom. There are many great adventures in the city and great depths of excitement. You will never want to put this book down!
