Rene Denfeld

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. A female investigator searches for buried information from prisoners' pasts that can save those soon-to-be-executed. Digging into the background of a killer named York, she uncovers wrenching truths that challenge familiar notions of victim and criminal, innocence and guilt, and reveals shocking secrets of her own.

a novel

The enchanted

A haunting, richly atmospheric, and deeply suspenseful novel from the acclaimed author of The Enchanted about an investigator who must use her unique insights to find a missing little girl. "Where are you, Madison Culver? Flying with the angels, a silver speck on a wing? Are you dreaming, buried under snow? Or—is it possible—you are still alive?" Three years ago, Madison Culver disappeared when her family was choosing a Christmas tree in Oregon’s Skookum National Forest. She would be eight-years-old now—if she has survived. Desperate to find their beloved daughter, certain someone took her, the Culvers turn to Naomi, a private investigator with an uncanny talent for locating the lost and missing. Known to the police and a select group of parents as "the Child Finder," Naomi is their last hope. Naomi’s methodical search takes her deep into the icy, mysterious forest in the Pacific Northwest, and into her own fragmented past. She understands children like Madison because once upon a time, she was a lost girl, too. As Naomi relentlessly pursues and slowly uncovers the truth behind Madison’s disappearance, shards of a dark dream pierce the defenses that have protected her, reminding her of a terrible loss she feels but cannot remember. If she finds Madison, will Naomi ultimately unlock the secrets of her own life? Told in the alternating voices of Naomi and a deeply imaginative child, The Child Finder is a breathtaking, exquisitely rendered literary page-turner about redemption, the line between reality and memories and dreams, and the human capacity to survive.

A Novel

The Child Finder

“A heartbreaking, finger-gnawing, and yet ultimately hopeful novel by the amazing Rene Denfeld.” —Margaret Atwood, via Twitter After captivating readers in The Child Finder, Naomi—the investigator with an uncanny ability for finding missing children—returns, trading snow-covered woods for dark, gritty streets on the search for her missing sister in a city where young, homeless girls have been going missing and turning up dead. From the highly praised author of The Child Finder and The Enchanted comes The Butterfly Girl, a riveting novel that ripples with truth, exploring the depths of love and sacrifice in the face of a past that cannot be left dead and buried. A year ago, Naomi, the investigator with an uncanny ability for finding missing children, made a promise that she would not take another case until she finds the younger sister who has been missing for years. Naomi has no picture, not even a name. All she has is a vague memory of a strawberry field at night, black dirt under her bare feet as she ran for her life. The search takes her to Portland, Oregon, where scores of homeless children wander the streets like ghosts, searching for money, food, and companionship. The sharp-eyed investigator soon discovers that young girls have been going missing for months, many later found in the dirty waters of the river. Though she does not want to get involved, Naomi is unable to resist the pull of children in need—and the fear she sees in the eyes of a twelve-year old girl named Celia. Running from an abusive stepfather and an addict mother, Celia has nothing but hope in the butterflies—her guides and guardians on the dangerous streets. She sees them all around her, tiny iridescent wisps of hope that soften the edges of this hard world and illuminate a cherished memory from her childhood—the Butterfly Museum, a place where everything is safe and nothing can hurt her. As danger creeps closer, Naomi and Celia find echoes of themselves in one another, forcing them each to consider the question: Can you still be lost even when you’ve been found? But will they find the answer too late?

The Butterfly Girl

Fire and Water

“Rene Denfeld reminds us that storytelling remains one of the most powerful means we have of confronting our darkest human impulses, and sometimes overcoming them.”—Washington Post From the bestselling author of The Child Finder and The Enchanted, a compelling and poignant story of sibling bonds, monsters masquerading as caretakers, terrifying secrets, and the power of love to right even the most egregious wrongs. Twenty years ago, a nine-year-old boy was swept away by powerful waves on a remote Oregon beach, his body lost to the sea. Only a stone memorial remains to mark his tragic death. For most of her life, Amanda Dufresne had no idea she had an older brother named Dennis Owens, or that he had died. Adopted as a baby, she learned about him while looking into her late birth mother, and is curious to know more about this lost sibling. A solitary young woman, Amanda has always felt distanced from the world around her. Her brain works differently from others, leaving her feeling set apart. Her one true companion is the orphaned polar bear she cares for working at the zoo. By getting to know her birth family, she hopes to understand more about herself. Retired police officer Larry Palmer is a widower with nothing but time and in need of a purpose. He offers to help Amanda find answers. The search leads to shocking and heartbreaking discoveries. Dennis Owen had been a forgotten foster child abandoned to a home for disturbed boys off the coast. As Amanda and Larry dig deeper into the past, the two stumble upon decades of cruelty and hidden crimes—including a barbaric treatment still used today. Told in Rene Denfeld’s inimitable style, Sleeping Giants is an enthralling and heartbreaking novel that burrows deep in the heart and will leave no reader untouched.

Sleeping Giants

Butterfly Museum

De betoverden / druk 1

The lady, an investigator who excels at uncovering information to save her clients from execution . . . The fallen priest, beaten down by his guilt over a terrible sin and its tragic consequences . . . The warden, a kind man within a cruel system . . . The mute prisoner, sensing what others cannot in what he calls "this enchanted place" . . . The enchanted place is an ancient stone prison. Two outsiders walk here: a woman known only as the lady, and a fallen priest. The lady comes to the prison when she has a job to do. She's skilled at finding the secrets that get men off death row. This gift threatens her career—and complicates her life—when she takes on the case of York, a killer whose date of execution looms. York is different from the lady's former clients: he wants to die. Going against the condemned man's wishes, the lady begins her work. What she uncovers about York's birth and upbringing rings chillingly familiar. In York's shocking and shameful childhood, the lady sees the shadows of her own. The lady is watched by a death row inmate who finds escape in the books he reads from the prison library and by reimagining the world he inhabits—a world of majestic golden horses that stampede underground and of tiny men who hammer away inside stone walls. He is not named, nor do we know his crime. But he listens. He listens to York's story. He sees the lady fall in love with the priest and wonders how such warmth is possible in these crumbling corridors. As tensions in "this enchanted place" build, he sees the corruption and the danger. And he waits as the hour of his own destiny approaches. The Enchanted is a magical novel about redemption, the poetry that can exist within the unfathomable, and the human capacity to transcend and survive even the most nightmarish reality. Beautiful and unexpected, this is a memorable story.

The Enchanted

Journalist Rene Denfeld explains why her generation has become alienated from the women's movement, maintaining that the actions of the movement's current leadership have actually encouraged a return to the kind of sexual repression and political powerlessness challenged by feminists in the 1970s. Here she offers a practial battle plan which includes confronting the issues of child care and birth control, working for equal government representation, and treating sexual assault as a serious crime.

A Young Woman's Challenge to the Old Feminist Order

The New Victorians

Quelque part aux Etats-Unis, dans une prison. Le narrateur attend dans le couloir de la mort, qu'il appelle le donjon. Il ne parle pas, n'a jamais parlé, lui qui a passé sa vie entre hôpital psychiatrique et pénitencier. Mais il observe, pour le lecteur, le monde "enchanté" de la prison où des chevaux d'or courent dans les profondeurs de la terre et des petits hommes frappent les murs de leurs minuscules marteaux. Il observe le prêtre déchu qui porte sa croix en s'occupant des prisonniers, le garçon aux cheveux blancs qui arrive là, seul et vulnérable, et les monstres, ces détenus et gardiens qui peuplent la prison, comme Agee, le plus terrifiant d'entre tous. Et puis un jour arrive la Dame, décidée à sauver la vie de York, l'un des prisonniers, qui a pourtant choisi de mourir...

En ce lieu enchanté

A note from the author -- Prologue -- Part one: 1992 -- Chapters 1-6 -- Part two: 2003 -- Chapters 7-17 -- Notes -- Index.

Inside the Dark and Violent World of Street Families

All God's Children

Ακόμα και τα τέρατα χρειάζονται γαλήνη. Ακόμα και τα τέρατα χρειάζονται κάποιον να τους ακούσει αληθινά –να τους αφουγκραστεί… Τότε ίσως μπορέσουμε να βάλουμε ένα τέλος σε ανθρώπους σαν εμένα… Ένας κρατούμενος της πτέρυγας των θανατοποινιτών σε μια φυλακή υψίστης ασφαλείας με μόνη διέξοδο από τη σκληρή καθημερινότητά του τις λέξεις που φαντάζεται, τον κόσμο που οικοδομεί χάρη στη δύναμη της γλώσσας. Ποτέ δεν κατονομάζεται ούτε και μαθαίνουμε ποτέ ποιο το έγκλημά του. Δεν μιλά. Ακούει την ιστορία του Γιορκ, του κρατούμενου στο διπλανό κελί του οποίου η εκτέλεση έχει οριστεί χρονικά. Ακούει την κυρία, μια ερευνήτρια που προσπαθεί να ανασυνθέσει το παρελθόν του Γιορκ. Παρακολουθεί την κυρία να ερωτεύεται τον παπά και αναρωτιέται αν η αγάπη εξακολουθεί να είναι μια δυνατότητα σε αυτό τον κόσμο. Βλέπει τη διαφθορά και τον κίνδυνο καθώς η ένταση στους τοίχους της φυλακής κλιμακώνεται. Και περιμένει. Γιατί ακόμα και τα τέρατα έχουν μια ιστορία…

Μαγεμένος τόπος

Rick Rubin

Rick Rubin, a writer by trade and historian at heart, combines years of research with his journalist's eye for detail and poet's ear to create one of the most compelling and readable histories of the Native American people of the lower Columbia River. Rubin conveys information about the people's daily life, spiritual beliefs, mythologies, and how the introduction of white settlers into the region forever changed their culture. Thanks in large part to the abundant salmon runs the Chinook-speakers residing along the lower Columbia River were among the wealthiest in North America. Master fisherman and expert canoeists it was not uncommon for a single canoe and crew to net two tons of succulent Chinook salmon on a single outgoing tide. A thickset people with artificially flattened heads, anarchistic politics, and a highly stratified society, they spoke a language unconnected to any known language on earth. Yet despite all their wealth and accomplishments they were all but completely wiped out in a few short decades after whites first landed on their shores.

The People of the Lower Columbia River 1770-1830

Naked Against the Rain

The author of All God’s Children and a Golden Gloves champion boxer argues that women can be just as aggressive and violent as men. The outspoken, articulate, and brilliant author of The New Victorians debunks the persistent belief that women are inherently less aggressive and less violent than men and examines the concept of aggression in this myth-shattering, eye-opening work. Through research, interviews with experts, analysis, and her own experience in the boxing ring, Denfeld presents a revisionist view of women, aggression, and violence, and addresses such issues as why women commit child abuse and other crimes; why women often feel guilty and out of control when enraged; how female competition is often subverted into hidden, often vicious reals; and the intersection between sex and violence. “A writer’s thoughtful look at the personal and social implications of her foray into the “manly art” of boxing. . . . A well-rendered personal account of female athletic experience—a rare offering. Denfeld also makes an engaging contribution to popular discussion of female aggression, a subject that clearly merits closer attention.” —Kirkus Reviews

A Closer Look at Women, Violence, and Aggression

Kill the Body, the Head Will Fall

(1) NACHTSCHADE In het slaapstadje Grant County ontstaat onrust als een jonge lerares wordt verkracht en vermoord. De vrouw wordt gevonden door Sara Linton, de plaatselijke kinderarts en lijkschouwer. Samen met politiecommissaris Jeffrey Tolliver, haar grote liefde van vroeger met wie ze op gespannen voet staat, probeert ze het mysterie van de moord op te lossen. Intussen verricht ook Lena, de zus van het slachtoffer, op eigen houtje naspeuringen. Dan dient het volgende slachtoffer zich aan...(2) ZOENOFFER Een duister geheim werpt een schaduw over Grant County als de dertienjarige Jenny zich moedwillig laat neerschieten door politiecommissaris Jeffrey Tolliver. Bij de lijkschouwing doet kinderarts Sara Linton een schokkende ontdekking, die wijst in de richting van misbruik. Sara en Jeffrey werken noodgedwongen samen aan deze zaak, bijgestaan door rechercheur Lena Adams, maar is zij wel tegen de spanningen opgewassen? Als de ontknoping nabij is, slaat het noodlot opnieuw toe...(3) EEN LICHTE KOUDE HUIVERINGOp de campus van een universiteit vinden enkele studenten onder mysterieuze omstandigheden de dood. Terwijl kinderarts en lijkschouwer Sara Linton het eerste lichaam onderzoekt, wordt haar zus Tessa aangevallen. Sara’s ex-man Jeffrey Tolliver leidt het onderzoek, maar oud-rechercheur Lena Adams verricht haar eigen speurwerk en begeeft zich daarbij op gevaarlijk terrein...Deze boeken zijn ook los verkrijgbaar.

3-in-1

Het vlindermeisje

L’héroïne de ce roman est une détective privée de l’Oregon spécialisée dans la recherche d’enfants disparus, surnommée « La femme qui retrouvait les enfants ». Elle-même rescapée d’un kidnapping, elle a développé une intuition et un instinct de survie hors-norme. On la suit dans ses recherches à travers les patelins et les forêts mystérieuses du Pacific Northwest pour retrouver une fillette disparue depuis trois ans.

Rene Denfeld

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