What is the title of C.S. Lewis’s 1945 novel about a future England ruled by technocratic forces?

C.S. Lewis’s 1945 novel about a future England ruled by technocratic forces is That Hideous Strength. It is the third and final novel in his Space Trilogy.

The story follows Mark and Jane Studdock as they become entangled with the N.I.C.E., a secretive organization claiming to use science and social planning for human progress. The novel brings the trilogy back to Earth after the planetary settings of the first two books, while retaining its concern with ethics, power, spiritual reality, and the misuse of scientific language.

That Hideous Strength is often classified as science fiction, dystopian fiction, or theological fantasy. Its title comes from a line in David Lindsay’s 1920 novel A Voyage to Arcturus, quoted in Lewis’s prefatory material. The N.I.C.E. is fictional, not a historical institution, and should not be confused with a real government agency.