World may never see newest Narnia chapter

A door into the unknown adventures of Narnia has been left ajar, although only for a select few.

Award-winning English writer Francis Spufford has spent three years working on a new novel in the C S Lewis Chronicles of Narnia series, despite not having permission from the Lewis estate.

Spufford said he wrote The Stone Table for his daughter Theodora, 13, who ‘‘was desperate for me to write something that she would actually enjoy – and also as a present for my 10-yearold self, because back in 1974 I longed with an unspeakable passion for there to be one more Narnia book’’.

Spufford, who has printed 75 copies and distributed them free to friends and fellow writers, said the novel was ‘‘not intended to get out into the world unless, long shot, I come to terms with the estate’’.

The Lewis estate has resisted all entreaties to continue the Narnia novels, the last of which was published in 1956 by Lewis, who died in 1963. His work remains in copyright until 2034.

‘‘This was a labour of love which was also about me having fun,’’ Spufford said.

The estates of several dead authors, including Agatha Christie and Ian Fleming, have allowed writers to produce ‘‘continuation’’ novels, which have been commercial and critical successes.

Spufford said The Stone Table was ‘‘an impertinent shoehorn gently inserted between The Magician’s Nephew, which has the Narnia creation in it, and before The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe . . . an underdeveloped earlier bit of Narnia history’’.

– The Times