The First Years.
Lewis grew up in a pleasant household with a good mother and a good nurse. His older brother and he were very close and spent lots of time together. In their house there were books of all kinds and genres and he never lacked for something new to read. While his brother was away at boarding school, he begin to write (because he was inept with his hands to build anything). That became a great pleasure for him.
Three experiences in his early childhood stand out as formational. They are related to a sense of awe and longing—it is very hard to explain. He relates them to joy, which he distinguishes from pleasure and happiness. The only thing joy shares in common is that after experiencing joy, you will want to experience it again.
His life changed when his mother died of cancer. It was an awful time, and his father reacted badly, driving a wedge between the boys and the father.