Enchantment

Philippa Laakso was many things to many people. Caring and selfish. Kind to some, cruel to others. And now, she was dead. When seventeen-year-old Philippa's body is found in the yard outside her home, the police launch an investigation. Everyone close to Philippa is questioned. The elderly neighbour who discovered her body, who kept confusing Philippa with his late wife. The best friend, who hoards a secret stash of objects she'd stolen from Philippa over the years. The ex-boyfriend, still reeling from their sudden break-up months before. The woman who features, enraged, in some of the strange videos Philippa filmed on her beloved PEN Olympus camera. The older men she'd been meeting via a dating app. Each tells a different story- she was a confidant, a fantasy, a temptation, a problem, a mystery, a mirror. But did any of them truly know her? Enchantment is a spellbinding literary mystery that explores the uneasy terrain of girlhood, where one is always being watched, shaped, and judged by others. In it, Riikka Pulkkinen weaves a complex story of power, identity, and the fragile boundary between truth and fiction. 'An intricate tapestry of a novel by a masterful writer. Enchantment's real triumph is its investigation into what we mean to one another as imperfect people. I wanted to savour every sentence of this structurally impressive novel.' -Catherine Airey, author of Confessions 'Riikka Pulkkinen is a Finnish Joyce Carol Oates.' -Livres Hebdo Praise for The Limit- 'A quiet. mature novel ... Pulkkinen explores the limits of people's control over their own actions and circumstances' -Kerryn Goldsworthy, Sydney Morning Herald