Till We Have Faces
Acceptable with guidance. Age: 16+. A Catholic review of this book for parents.
Our review
Princess Orual loves her little sister Psyche very much. But she wants to keep Psyche all to herself, and that does great harm. When she is old, Orual sees the truth about her own heart and finds mercy. This is an old Greek myth retold to show how love can turn into possession. Orual accuses the gods and ends by seeing that she was the one in the wrong. A Catholic reading list recommends it from sixteen. The setting is pagan, with a dark goddess and human sacrifice, and the meaning is hidden, so a 10th grader needs a guide.
For parents
Read aloud from about fifteen. Independent reading from sixteen, following the Catholic list. For a 10th grader, read it together. No content log was fetched. From Wikipedia: a pagan priest demands a human sacrifice, Orual wounds herself and threatens suicide to control her sister, and a man is castrated as a punishment. Nothing sexual is reported. The gods here are the gods of a made-up pagan land. Lewis uses them as a shadow of the true God, who is love and who shows mercy at the end. Say that plainly so the picture is not mistaken for the teaching. Ask: is Orual's love for Psyche real love? Why can she not see the palace? What does the title mean, that we cannot meet God face to face till we have faces? What is the difference between loving someone and needing to own them?