The Way Through the Woods by Una McCormack

Elana is sent to Toris, a world not unlike ours in the 1950s, where two superpowers – the Libertarians and the Neo-Statists – are on the brink of nuclear war. The sequel, The Far Side of Evil (London: Gollancz, 1975), again addresses many of these themes, but against a darker setting. The book, which switches skilfully between first- and third-person narrative in a way that would normally send a writing teacher reaching for her red pen, seamlessly blends fantastical and science fictional narrative modes and meditates thoughtfully on the ethics of intervention and the nature of belief. Forbidden by their Oath to disclose their true nature, members of the mission must intervene more subtly: Elana poses as an enchantress in order to guide a woodcutter's son through a quest to save his people from the invaders. The protagonist, anthropologist-in-training Elana, citizen of a peaceful star-faring Federation, stows away on a field mission to observe a pre-industrial world at risk of colonization from a technologically advanced Empire. The most well-known of these is the Newbery Honor Medal book Enchantress from the Stars (London: Gollancz, 1974). Una McCormack on The Far Side of Evil by Sylvia Engdahlīetween 19, the American science fiction writer Sylvia Engdahl wrote six young adult novels. Below Una discusses Sylvia Engdahl's The Far Side of Evil. She has taught organizational theory at the University of Cambridge, and is currently lecturer in creative writing at Anglia Ruskin University.

Una McCormack is the author of five science fiction novels, including The Never Ending Sacrifice and The Way Through the Woods.

The Way Through the Woods by Una McCormack