C. S. Lewis
Lewis and fellow novelist J. R. R. Tolkien were close friends. They both served on the English faculty at Oxford University, and were active in the informal Oxford literary group known as the Inklings. According to Lewis's memoir "Surprised by Joy", he was baptised in the Church of Ireland, but fell away from his faith during adolescence. Lewis returned to Anglicanism at the age of 32, owing to the influence of Tolkien and other friends, and he became an "ordinary layman of the Church of England". Lewis's faith profoundly affected his work, and his wartime radio broadcasts on the subject of Christianity brought him wide acclaim.
The Hobbit
On first publication in October 1937, "The Hobbit" was met with almost unanimously favourable reviews from publications both in the UK and the US, including "The Times", "Catholic World" and "New York Post". C. S. Lewis, friend of Tolkien (and later author of "The Chronicles of Narnia" between 1949 and 1954), writing in "The Times" reports: