ST201903

THE LION, THE WITCH
AND THE WARDROBE
BY CS LEWIS
Read by Kate Pettifer
(chief sub editor) aged eight

Wardrobes are never the same again,
once you’ve read The Lion, the Witch and
the Wardrobe. The potential of finding
pine needles and snowf lakes at your feet
lures you into many an armoire, hoping
to follow in Lucy’s footsteps and discover
a way in to the magical world of Narnia.
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
was a book of firsts: the first book that
made me realise that older people also
had childhoods (thanks, Professor); my
first engagement with death (albeit that
of a resurrecting lion); the first time I
experienced a not-all-bad character (yes
I’m talking about you, Edmund). It’s also

the first Narnia book that CS Lewis

wrote and still comes across as a

confident triumph of the imagination,

with no act to follow.

I cannot count how many times I’ve

re-read my battered paperback

I picked it up again last year, in

lull between ‘grown-up’ novels

The disquieting thrill of the

pursuit through the silent, snow

forest; the awe you feel on first

meeting Aslan, and the awful

sadness of his sacrifice – none

it has diminished with age.

The one thing that has

changed, though, is believing

I can get there; I envy my

childhood self, able to hold

logic at bay. It’s a long time sinc

I’ve rooted in the back of the w

for anything but clothes.

k.

na

s.

wy

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of

ce

wardrobe

THERE ARE BOOKS YOU READ AS A CHILD

THAT STAY WITH YOU ALWAYS, AND THE

BEST STAND THE TEST OF TIME. TO MARK

WORLD BOOK DAY THIS MONTH WE’VE

BEEN RE-READING OUR FAVOURITES.

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