Combining elements of Phantom of the Opera and Beauty and the Beast, this is a modern fairy tale for adults. It is romantic, erotic, mysterious, and moving. A beautiful, sensitive young girl falls in love with a brilliant older man who is so profoundly scarred both physically and emotionally that he literally cannot face the light of day. Despite his deep apprehensions, he allows her to enter his world of darkness, where they communicate their love for each other through music. Fearful of what he most craves, Erik nevertheless becomes convinced of Marisa's love. He nurtures and tutors her as she matures from girl to womanhood while she, in turn, teaches him to trust and gradually coaxes him into the light. Theirs is a magical bond, cemented by adversity. How this bond grows stronger, flourishing through the years is the basis of this hypnotic fantasy. Review from the New York Post by Anna Zola, May 14, 1989 Not all men's problems come from mud on the boots -- there are also those scars on the soul that provoke the beast within. In Night Magic, Charlotte Vale-Allen rewrites The Phantom of the Opera and sets it in a Connecticut suburb. Hidden beneath his horribly burnt face, the gifted architect Eric D'Anton goes out only at night. One evening, he visits a friend to plan a kitchen renovation that will change his life. There he meets young Marisa Crane who somehow plumbs immediately Eric's trapped desperation. But she only slowly convinces him of her love and even after their marriage, crises abound as Eric faces the light of the world while Marisa encounters her own dark side. In this novel, love doesn't automatically transform anyone into a prince, or princess. Charlotte Vale-Allen described her own painful experience with a love that does not save in her memoir about incest, Daddy's Girl. She knows the difficulties of transacting and transferring power between women and men, in life and in writing. While the claustrophobia of the D'Anton's darkened house may drive some readers out to mow the lawn in the sunshine, Night Magic develops a hypnotic, erotic rhythm that, if you succumb, will rock you all night long.
