The Silver Chair - CS Lewis

Published in an omnibus edition with the full Chronicles of Narnia series: "The Magician's Nephew"; "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe"; "The Horse and His Boy"; "Prince Caspian"; "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader"; "The Silver Chair"; "The Last Battle", by Harper Collins Publishers: Hammersmith, London, 2010. Originally published 1953.

 This is my favourite of all the Narnia books, for a few reasons.

Firstly, Puddleglum. The Marsh-wiggle character, with his dour outlook on life (while considering himself an optimist by Marsh-wiggle standards) is a great comic-relief character while also providing a moral compass for our two main protagonists.

Second, the protagonists. Eustace Scrubb, introduced in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, returns, now accompanied by Jill Pole. This is the only 'main story-line' Narnia books to not include a Pevensie sibling, and in doing so Lewis allows Eustace and Jill to make more mistakes than their predecessors, and learn more about both the grace of Aslan and his ability to work all things for good.

Which leads me to the third element I enjoy: the mistakes of the protagonists. There are a number of times during The Silver Chair where Eustace and Jill make the wrong choices, and have to realise this later on while also facing consequences for their actions. Eustace in particular misses out on talking with an old friend while in Narnia because neither he nor Jill interpret Aslan's directions properly until it is too late. The reason I like this is that it is an important lesson about God (once again, remembering that these are books of allegories for children). We won't always get things right, and sometimes we will face consequences for our actions. And yet, God is still good, and faithful, and loving.

Also, this book contains directions on how to cook a Marsh-wiggle...

Completed, with Elise, 27 June 2020.

(Elise Books)

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