The Great Night
Kindle cover
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| Author | Chris Adrian |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Magical realism |
| Publisher | Farrar, Straus and Giroux |
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Publication date
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April 26, 2011 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover) |
| Pages | 292 pp. |
| ISBN | |
| Preceded by | The Children's Hospital |
The Great Night is a 2011 novel by American author Chris Adrian. Billed as a retelling of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, the novel details the interaction on one night between the faerie kingdom about to be destroyed and three mortals heartbroken over lost relationships.
Henry Blork, Molly and Will enter Buena Vista Park in San Francisco on the way to a party at a house nearby. Each is forlorn over the loss of a relationship: Henry's obsessive–compulsive disorder had driven away his boyfriend Bobby; Will had lost his girlfriend Carolina because of his infidelity; and Molly's boyfriend Ryan had hanged himself.
A hill in the park houses the local faerie kingdom, ruled by Titania and Oberon. Oberon has vanished after their son, whom Oberon had stolen for Tatiana, died of leukemia. Grieved at the yearlong absence of her husband, Titania releases Puck, a powerful and antagonistic demon, from his thousand-year-old bond, hoping that the ensuing destruction will compel Oberon to return. The spell that unbinds Puck traps everyone in the park, and over the course of the night, Henry, Molly and Will's histories are related by flashbacks.
Henry had no recollection of the years he had been missing as a child. As it happens, he himself was a changeling, stolen by Puck to be his companion. But Henry grew too old and Oberon and Titania banished him. Henry's memory of his captivity was erased and he was expelled into the city, where he was discovered by Mike, who, with Ryan, runs an orphanage of sorts for the many changelings in the city. After one of the other boys makes fun of Ryan's homosexuality, Ryan leaves the house and, found by a police officer, tells her about the house. The police assume Mike was molesting the children; Mike is killed in a raid in the house, while Ryan escapes and Henry is returned to his family. Several years later, Henry and Bobby fall in love, but Henry's OCD destroys their relationship. Henry moves to San Francisco, where is one of the doctors who unsuccessfully treats Tatiana and Oberon's son's leukemia.
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