<Tr> <Th> Preceded by </Th> <Td> The Silver Chair </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Followed by </Th> <Td> The Magician's Nephew </Td> </Tr> <P> The Horse and His Boy is a novel for children by C.S. Lewis, published by Geoffrey Bles in 1954 . Of the seven novels that comprise The Chronicles of Narnia (1950--1956), The Horse and His Boy was the fifth to be published; it is also one of four of the novels that Lewis finished writing before the first book in the series had been published . In recent editions of The Chronicles of Narnia, that are sequenced according to the history of the fictional land of Narnia, The Horse and His Boy is the third book in the series . Like the other novels in The Chronicles of Narnia, it was illustrated by Pauline Baynes; her work has been retained in many later editions . </P> <P> The Horse and His Boy is the only novel within The Chronicles of Narnia that features children from the imagined world of Narnia (rather than English characters) as the main characters . It is also the only novel within The Chronicles of Narnia that takes place entirely in the fictional Narnian world . The novel is set in the period covered by the last chapter of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (which was the first of the Narnia books to be published), during the reign of the four Pevensie children as Kings and Queens of Narnia . Though the Pevensies appear as minor characters in The Horse and His Boy, the main characters are two children and two talking horses who escape from Calormen and travel north into Narnia . On their journey, they pass through Calormen's capital city; while there, they learn of Calormen's plan to invade Archenland . When they reach Archenland, they warn the king of the impending invasion . </P>

When was the horse and his boy written