The novel A Journey Into an
Unending Story begins when a woman of the Hidden People lures 3 year old Hugin
out into the field for a few days. This strange incident stays with him for the
rest of his life. Hugin struggles to become a recognized author in a
narrow-minded community marked by opression and traditionalist Christian
notions that you should not drink, smoke, curse, dance or fraternize with
girls. The pen becomes Hugin’s weapon against the authorities and the path back
into his childhood world.
“There was no notion of me
quitting anything. I left for a while and then I would come back. In addition I
started writing about everything. About the rock and the tussock, the beach and
the river, the whelk boxes and the cries of the gull. Even the dock flowers
took their place in my thick books alongside many, many other things - such as
the frecked leaves of the orchid which smells like a lady heading for the
dance. And I was determined to write so passionately about all these things
that others would end up cherishing them just as much as I did.” (Excerpt from
vol. IV, 178)