Does this equal weight unbalance our own comfortable notions of good and evil? Do we believe in redemption? Is the death penalty the answer? Neither the nature of the narrator's crime, nor his name, are revealed until the end of the novel. *There is so much good in the worst of us, and so much bad in the best of us*.Denfeld gives the monsters the same weight as the angels in her tale. The book by design, is intrusive, and uncomfortable, challenging our fundamental beliefs. In an interview with Harper Books, Denfeld characterized her novel thus: "What does it mean to be human?" Whether or not you find the answer to that most fundamental inquiry of existence, your reaction to this ink blot novel may reveal a lot about your character. Rene has extensive training and experience in subjects including FASD, drug effects and cognitive impairments." This is her first novel and she sticks to the advice, write what you know. She is known for her diligent, informed and in-depth investigations. Rene Denfeld "is a licensed investigator who specializes in death penalty work. He is surrounded by monsters, convicted of unspeakable violent crimes, but these inmates fear the mute he is the most fearful monster in this prison, and the narrator of Denfeld's novel. He imagines his death-row cell an enchanted world where he can magically float up through the walls in the steam of his breath, or step into a book and escape into the sunlight. A fairy tale of an enchanted place with golden horses? Only if seen through the eyes of a mute psychopath who spins gold out of cobwebs in the bowels of a dilapidated stone prison. My first glance at the galley covers for this novel, I thought Rorschach ink blots - then I saw the significant golden horses galloping from the darkness.
Digging into the background of a killer named York, she uncovers wrenching truths that challenge familiar notions of victim and criminal, innocence and guilt, honesty and corruption - ultimately revealing shocking secrets of her own.īeautiful and transcendent, The Enchanted reminds us of how our humanity connects us all, and how beauty and love exist even amidst the most nightmarish reality. Two outsiders venture here: A fallen priest and the Lady, an investigator who searches for buried information from prisoners’ pasts that can save those soon-to-be-executed. Though bars confine him every minute of every day, he marries visions of golden horses running beneath the prison, heat flowing like molten metal from their backs with the devastating violence of prison life. Fearful and reclusive, he senses what others cannot. Others don’t see it, but I do.” The enchanted place is an ancient stone prison, viewed through the eyes of a death row inmate who finds escape in his books and in re-imagining life around him, weaving a fantastical story of the people he observes and the world he inhabits. A wondrous and redemptive debut novel, set in a stark world where evil and magic coincide, The Enchanted combines the empathy and lyricism of Alice Sebold with the dark, imaginative power of Stephen King.