“When her mother disappears, fourteen-year-old Enola Holmes must notify her older brothers, Sherlock and Mycroft. Sherlock is a bit more sympathetic, but Mycroft and he both plan to send Enola off to a school for young ladies where she will be tortured into a corset and generally made miserable and unhealthy. It soon becomes clear that Enola’s widowed mother, while supposedly spending money maintaining the family estate and schooling Enola, actually hoarded the money and made her escape into a freer life. Enola is crushed until she realizes her mother has left clues that lead her to her own money, and she, too, can escape. Once Enola is well-away, she cannot resist trying to solve the mystery of the young marquess, also a runaway. She does, and none too soon, since they need each other to survive.
This delightful story should enterain some boys as well as most girls, be they fans of Sherlock or not. The plight of women in Victorian times is addressed, and a bit of the history of the times slips into the story also. It’s too soon to say if the book will win any awards, but it is well-worth reading.
SW
I also read this book and found it very engaging. I read another “Sherlock” book, The Eye of the Crow, immediately after this and found the Enola book more captivating. Enola outsmarts her brother Sherlock and manages to survive alone in London. Sherlock and Mycroft’s attitudes toward Enola and her mother somewhat strain credulity but may be overstated to point out the plight of women in this era. This book may be a hard sell which is unfortunate because it is certainly a good read.
KL
(2006) 216 pages”
