The Enchanted

The Enchanted - Rene Denfeld

Golden horses and little men with pick axes chiseling away are the elements of the book that qualify it as genre fiction. But, as they are in the mind of a prisoner in isolation, does that really count? Regardless, The Enchanted is a book worth reading. The prisoners have names, but the warden, the woman who investigates death row cases and the priest are referred to as The Warden, The Lady and The Priest. The prison where they work is a harsh and brutal place. The story is told from the perspective of one on the inmates, a criminally insane man who lives in isolation on death row. Yet, this person who has committed a heinous crime finds beauty in books, in The Lady, in the golden horses. The Warden, The Lady and The Priest, all free from bars and free to live in the outside world, live in their own little prisons. This is the kind of book that college students can write pages and pages about. There is much in this book to ponder.