The uses of enchantment
(Playaway)

Read by Shelly Frasier.

In late afternoon on November 7, 1985, sixteen-year-old Mary Veal was abducted after field hockey practice at her all-girls New England prep school. Or was she? A few weeks later, an unharmed Mary reappears as suddenly and mysteriously as she disappeared, claiming to have little memory of what happened to her. Her socially ambitious mother is concerned, and send Mary to therapy with a psychologist named Dr. Hammer. Mary turns out to be a difficult patient and Dr. Hammer begins to suspect that she concocted her tale of abduction. Eager to further his professional reputation, Hammer writes a book about Mary's faked abduction. Fifteen years later, mary has returned to Boston for her mother's funeral. Her abduction--real or imagined--has tainted many lives, including her own, and she begins a quest to revisit the people and places in her past.

Issued on Playaway, a dedicated audio media player.