Till We Have Faces

The second section of the novel begins with Orual telling us that she wishes to rewrite her story but that she doesn’t have time, so she must add to it. The act of writing has taught her much about herself and about memory.

For example, one day, Tarin, who was once Revival’s lover and is now a eunuch and an ambassador to a powerful king, arrives in Glome. He tells Orual that he remembers how lonely Redival was, how she felt abandoned by her older sister in favor of Psyche. This is not at all how Orual remembers things, and she is forced to reconsider the past: “For it had been somehow settled in my mind from the very beginning that I was the pitiable and ill-used one. She had her golden curls, hadn’t she?” (121).

Orual’s attempt to sort her true memories from the false continues in her dreams, where she is confronted by a huge pile of various kinds of seed that need to be separated.

Since her return to Glome, Orual has hardly thought about Bardia except to complain about his absence. Only once she finishes her book does she realize that he is very sick.