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Enon is Paul Harding’s second novel, a follow-up to the Pulitzer Prize winning Tinkers.. It’s set in a New England town of Enon, a typical small town in many people’s minds. The main character, Charlie, is the grandson of George Crosby, the main character in Tinkers. Early in the story, Charlie is dealt the crushing news of his daughter Kate’s death. His reaction to losing her is the story of Enon, his grief a powerful current that pulls the reader along with him. For a year, Charlie lives an existence without his wife, his daugter Kate, and any human companionship, with his life fueled only by painkillers and alcohol. He revisits his times with Kate many times, sometimes coherently, sometimes less so. But above all, he longs for the simplicity of the times they spent together while she was alive.

Enon is a book that deals with profound emotions and grief. It would be incredibly depressing for the reader but escapes such with absolutely stunning prose that is the heart and soul of Harding’s novel. Harding continues the story of the tragic Crosby family with a skilled hand. The deft arrangement of words and choice of phrases, as was the case in Tinkers, prevents the story from being ordinary and just a treatise on grief; instead, the reader is granted an extraordinary look into some of the most beautiful musings on the relationships between father and daughter, the real and the imagined, the dead and the living, and the loved and the loving. The care with which Harding assembles the  words for Enon is obvious throughout. Especially jaw-dropping is the description of the Obsidian Girl. This work is worth every minute of effort and continues Harding’s march toward being one of America’s most gifted writers. Highly
recommended.