The Great Divorce

Clive Staples Lewis wrote The Great Divorce in response to William Blake’s Marriage of Heaven and Hell; so the divorce in question is not between two humans, but to separate Blake’s attempted merging of good and evil, salvation and damnation.

The tale begins with an author who is frustrated by his inability to pen the opening line of a new story, and falls asleep.

When he wakes, he finds himself standing in line at a bus stop in a dreary gray town.

Everyone else in line has a chip on their shoulders, and when the bus finally arrives, it takes them to the outskirts of heaven, where they must decide whether to abandon their hangups and accept eternal salvation, or return to their purgatory town, which becomes their hell.