I had not previously heard of The Enchanted before seeing it on a book club wall. I was interested, but not all that much, right? I really wasn't expecting it to be this good. 
 Before reading, I had barely glanced at the jacket description. I do that sometimes because I just don't want to know. Therefore, I had this idea going in that the building itself, housing the prisoners, was the "enchanted", and hence the reason for the title. I figured we had a fantasy here of some sort. Well, I was wrong. That happens a lot. To describe what the enchanted means in the book would probably spoil a few things, so I won't. 
 Rene Denfeld writing is almost lyrical, especially in areas of the book where she just lets it go. Within the seriousness of the story, there are elements of satire and of fantasy. At one point in the book, our unnamed narrator, a man waiting on death row in the dungeon of the building, feels the tremors of the golden horses beginning their run deep down in the earth below the dungeons. Denfeld doesn't come out and tell us what these golden horses are; she lets the reader figure it out through the mind of the narrator. There are a handful of other characters at the center of the story; the lady, the fallen priest to name a couple of them. Each has a subplot that knits the whole story into one. 
 I got to say that I almost gave it four stars because at times the prison is made out to be so bad it's unreal. But then I remember it is a book of fiction meant to give a point and I get over myself. Can't say it's for everyone's list, but I really liked it.