Enchanted Night by Millhauser

[electric_pages]

Enchanted Night: A Novella (1999)
by Steven Millhauser
109 pages - Crown Publishers

'Memory keeps turning into imagination.' (pg.33)

This short little book takes place in the space of a single summer night in Connecticut, from just past midnight until the break of dawn, under an almost-full moon. It's divided into small pieces that start at the top of the page, and usually end on that same page as well. In this one night the town sees, among other things, several restless young girls leaving their houses, a failed 39-year-old writer's wanderings, an auto mechanic in love with a shop window mannequin, a beach that's home to both lovers and loners, and a group of teen girls that break into people's houses, snack in their living rooms, and leave a note saying "We are your daughters".

This is a really fantastic piece of writing - lyrical, evocative, and full of heart. Millhauser has taken all the magic of summer nights and put it in between two covers.

'Because when you are known, then you lose yourself, but when you are hidden, then you are free.' (pg.105)