CS Lewis wrote what he meant by Till We have Faces:

An author doesn't necessarily understand the meaning of his own story
better than anyone else, so I give my account of Till we have Faces simply for
what it is worth. The 'levels' I am conscious of are these:

A work of (supposed) historical imagination. A guess of what it might
have been like in a little barbarous state on the borders of the Hellenistic
world of Greek culture, just beginning to affect it. Hence the change from the
old priest (of a very normal fertility mother-goddess) to Arnom; Stoic
allegorizations of the myths standing to the original cult rather as Modernism
to Christianity (but this is a parallel, not an allegory). Much that you take as
allegory was intended solely as realisitic detail. The wagon men are nomads from
the steppes. The children made mud pies not for symbolic purposes but because
children do. The Pillar Room is simply a room. The Fox is such an educated Greek
slave as you might find at a barbarous courst--and so on.

Psyche is an instance of the anima naturaliter Christiana making the best
of the Pagan religion she is brought up in and thus being guided (but always
'under the cloud', always in terms of her own imaginations or that of her
people) towards the true God. She is in some ways like Christ because every good
man or woman is like Christ. What else could they be like? But of course my
interest is primarily Orual.

Orual is (not a symbol) but an instance, a 'case' of human affection in
its natural condition, true, tender, suffering, but in the long run tyrannically
possessive and ready to turn to hatred when the beloved ceases to be its
possession. What such love particularly cannot stand is to see the beloved
passing into a sphere where it cannot follow. All this I hoped would stand as a
mere story in its own right. But--

Of course I had always in mind its close parallel to what is probably
happening at this moment in at least five families in your home town. Someone
becomes a Christian, or in a family nominally Christian already, does something
like becoming a missionary or entering a religious order. The others suffer a
sense of outrage. What they love is being taken from them. The boy must be mad.
And the conceit of him! Or: is there something in it after all? Let's hope it is
only a phase! If only he had listened to his natural advisers. Oh come back,
come back, be sensible, be the dear son we used to know! Now I, as a Christian,
have a good deal of sympathy with those jealous, suffering, puzzled people (for
they do suffer, and out of their suffering much of the bitterness against
religion arises). I believe the thing is common. There is very nearly a touch of
it in Luke II. 38, 'Son, why hast thou so dealt with us?' And is the reply easy
for a loving heart to bear?

(letter to Clyde Kilby, February 10, 1957; in LL, 273-74).

from http://www.montreat.edu/dking/lewis/TILWEHAV.htm

New Rotation Schedule

We have adjusted our schedule. I spoke with Gwen and since her new work schedule is so hectic, she would rather come when she can but not be obligated to pick something for a certain month. I've adjusted the rotation accordingly. Also, I switched Lisa and Diana since Lisa can't do it in November due to something else being due around that time. If anyone else decide to join our group, I will add them into the rotation.

Don't forget that we meet at your house (unless told otherwise) on the month you choose and we would like your book chosen two months before your date. (So this month we need Emily's and Heather's book and by next book club Channing should have one chosen.)

July: Emily
August: Heather
Sept: Channing
Oct: Charlotte
Nov: Diana
Dec: Lisa

July Book

In July we will be reading Till We have Faces by CS Lewis. Book club will meet the 2nd Wednesday in July at Emily's house. You can request a hold at the library here or order the book here.

Some people requested the names of the other books she suggested. Here is the list:

Mysterious Benedict Society by by Trenton Lee Stewart

The Giver by Louis Lowry

Anything by Shannon Hale (particularly the Goose Girl or its sequels, Princess Academy, or Book of a Thousand Days)- I own a couple of these if you want to borrow.

Information about book

Here is some information I have found about the book we are reading this month.

Here are some discusion questions.

Here is a wikipedia version of Botswana history

Here is a (rather postive) brief wikipedia article on witch doctors (apparently witch doctor is considered a very deragative term, they prefer Sangoma)

Here is an article in the Times online about Sangoma murdering for medicinal healing of others (as mentioned in the book)

Happy Reading!