The Great Divorce

Why I'd hand it to you

C.S. Lewis imagines a bus ride from a gray, dreary town to the outskirts of heaven, where ghosts are invited to stay but must let go of whatever keeps them from joy, whether pride, grief, resentment or even love turned possessive. Each encounter is short and sharply observed, and readers often see themselves in it. Lewis says up front that it is an imaginative story, not a literal picture of the afterlife, and readers should take him at his word, since some details don't fit any one tradition's theology. The dream framing can feel strange at first. It is short and stays with you.

— Matt Jordan