The painted spheres of the medieval heavens, glowing from the centre
A Reader’s Guide to C. S. Lewis’s Ransom Trilogy

Deeper Heaven

What does Christ have to do with Jupiter? Everything.

Christiana Hale walks you through Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra and That Hideous Strength one step at a time, with eyes fixed where Lewis fixed his: on Deep Heaven and beyond.

Buy the paperback · $26.95Read three chapters free
Deeper Heaven
“Christiana Hale has done C. S. Lewis’s readers a great service.”
Dr. Michael Ward · author of Planet Narnia
“A genuinely magnificent book on one of the most important subjects in the world.”
Eric Metaxas · The Eric Metaxas Show
“You will come away from it the wiser.”
Douglas Wilson · from the Foreword
The guide

A Beatrice to your Dante

The Ransom Trilogy is woven from the medieval picture of the heavens: seven planets with personalities, a silent Earth, angels in the stars. Deeper Heaven hands you that map, chapter by chapter.

Part I · chapters 4–13

Out of the Silent Planet

Malacandra · Mars

Ransom is kidnapped to Mars and learns that “space” is a libel on the heavens. Dante, H. G. Wells, the hnau, and the Martial spirit of courage.

Part II · chapters 14–23

Perelandra

Perelandra · Venus

An unfallen world, a Green Lady, and a temptation that must be answered in argument and then in blows. Love, plenitude, and true myth.

Part III · chapters 24–33

That Hideous Strength

Thulcandra · Jupiter

The N.I.C.E., St. Anne’s, Merlin, and a marriage. Why the Jovial king comes down to the Silent Planet, and what the women of the West are for.

Table of contents

35 chapters · 3 appendices · the Field of Arbol map
  1. MapA Map of the Ransom Trilogy Cosmology
  2. ForewordBy Douglas Wilson
  3. What is this book?
  4. Note on how to use this book
  5. Introduction
  6. Chapter 1Mapping the Universe: What is the Medieval Cosmos?
  7. Chapter 2Kindly Enclyning: The Influence and Personality of the Planets
  8. Chapter 3Whatness & Whichness: Donegality and Atmosphere
  9. Part I · Out of the Silent Planet
  10. SummaryOut of the Silent Planet
  11. Chapter 4The Pedestrian & the Pilgrim: Dante’s Influence
  12. Chapter 5“By Jove!”: Lewis’s Use of Language
Author Interviews, podcasts, articles, and more!

Christiana Hale on The Eric Metaxas Show

Watch the Conversation

Eric Metaxas interviews Christiana Hale · June 2022Featured“A genuinely magnificent book”Eric Metaxas interviews Christiana Hale · June 20221 h 28 min
Read the author

Articles by Christiana

Essays and poems that grew into the book, and the writing since.

Roman Roads Press · 2018Women of the West: True Femininity in That Hideous StrengthThe essay that inspired chapter 31
Roman Roads Press3 Ways Dante Influenced C. S. Lewis (Parts I and II)Her most-read essay; two of its headings became chapter titles.2015Roman Roads PressDestroying the Temple: C. S. Lewis on Distorted LovePerelandra and Till We Have Faces.2017Roman Roads PressA Debt Owed to Love: Communication and Gift-GivingOn writing as a gift.2017Davenant PressEnjoyment and Contemplation: The Green Lady and Growth in MaturityHer chapter in Life on the Silent Planet, alongside Michael Ward and Holly Ordway.2024Shadowlands DispatchOxford SpinningA poem, with a short interview.2024Roman Roads PressFor Countless Years the Dragon RoaredA Christmas poem, set as a sea shanty.2021Roman Roads PressArteries of Ink and Veins of GoldA poem on manuscripts and scribes.2016
The Deeper Heaven of Dante and Lewis
In the Roman Roads app

The Deeper Heaven of Dante and Lewis

A five-part series with Christiana Hale and Dr. Joe Carlson, translator of the Divine Comedy: what Lewis took from Dante, and how the heavens captured him.

21 minWatch herePart 1 - Comparing Dante and Lewis15 minWatch herePart 2 - What fascinated Lewis about Dante21 minWatch in the appPart 3 - How the Heavens Captured Lewis12 minWatch in the appPart 4 - Dante, Lewis, and Polyphony11 minWatch herePart 5 - Contemplation and Enjoyment
Watch Part 1Open the series in the appPlay parts 3 and 4 play in the app with a free sign-in.
The world of the trilogy

Seven heavens, one silent planet

Lewis’s cosmos is a cathedral, not a void. Each world of the Field of Arbol has a character, and each novel lives under one of them.

LunaSulvaThe boundary. Silver, wandering.MercuryViritrilbiaLord of meaning. Quicksilver.VenusPerelandraLove and abundance. Copper.SolArbolWisdom and gold. The eye of the universe.MarsMalacandraCourage, iron, sturdy hardiness.JupiterGlundThe King. Festal joy. Tin.SaturnLurgaFather Time. Melancholy, lead.
Enter the Field of Arbol →
Free sample

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Christiana (Pinkall) Hale
The author

Christiana (Pinkall) Hale

Christiana Hale (New Saint Andrews College, BA ’15, MA ’17) teaches Latin and literature at Logos School in Moscow, Idaho, and lectures in writing at New Saint Andrews. She is an assistant editor of Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal and wrote the chapter on Perelandra in Life on the Silent Planet (Davenant Press). Deeper Heaven is her first book; a reader’s guide to Till We Have Faces is forthcoming.

Watch an interviewRead her essays
From the Field of Arbol

The map, on your wall

Illustrated by Joey Nance

The Field of Arbol Map Poster · from $24.99Framed poster · $52.99Deeper Heaven mug · $12.99
Questions

Before you buy

Do I need to have read the trilogy first?

No. The guide opens with the map of Lewis’s cosmos, then takes the novels in order. If you are reading them for the first time, read each novel, then its part of the guide.

Is the eBook really free with the paperback?

Yes. Buy the paperback from Roman Roads and receive access to the eBook in the Roman Roads Press app immediately.

Where can I access the Audiobook?

In the Roman Roads app (iOS, Android, web) when bought here, or on Audible (separate purchase) if you prefer your library there.

Which edition of the novels should I use?

Any. Chapter references in the guide are by chapter, not page.

Deeper Heaven · paperback $26.95 · eBook $9.99 · audiobook $14.95
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