One Autumn day in 1985, sixteen-year-old Mary Veal vanishes from her Massachusetts prep school. A few weeks later she reappears unharmed and with little memory of what happened to her--or at least little that she is willing to share. <br> <br>Was Mary abducted, or did she fake her disappearance? This question haunts Mary's family, her psychologist, even Mary herself. Weaving together three narratives, <i>The Uses of Enchantment </i>conjures a spell in which the hallucinatory power of a young woman's sexuality, and her desire to wield it, has devastating consequences for all involved.