Daphne Merkin is a nov­el­ist, mem­oirist, and lit­er­ary crit­ic who writes for many pub­li­ca­tions, includ­ing the New York Times Book Review, the Atlantic, the New York Review of Books, and Air­mail. She is the author of This Close to Hap­py: A Reck­on­ing with Depres­sion, and two col­lec­tions of essays, Dream­ing of Hitler and The Fame Lunch­es. Her first nov­el, Enchant­ment, has been reis­sued with an intro-duc­tion by Vivian Gor­nick and her most most recent book is the nov­el 22 Min­utes of Uncon­di­tion­al Love. She has taught writ­ing at Mary­mount Man­hat­tan Col­lege, Hunter Col­lege, the Nine­ty- Sec­ond Street Y, and the MFA pro­gram at Colum­bia University.