Enola Holmes: A Short Review

Not fantasy-related in any way, but you should really give Enola Holmes a try. Not just the movie on Netflix (though the 2+ hour movie IS cute and fun and I really recommend it) but the middle grade book series by Nancy Springer.

The book follows Enola Holmes, the much-younger sister to Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes. Enola was always told she would do well alone, which is fitting, since her first name backward spells ALONE. And it starts to make even more sense when her mother disappears on Enola’s fourteenth birthday. They were never close, and her mother seemed to pay her little mind, but her mother’s vanishing was quite the blow to the young Holmes. Unable to make heads or tails of her mother’s disappearance–she summons her elder brothers, who insist on her attending a girl’s boarding school, and are shocked she was allowed to run wild as she has.

But Enola has plans of her own. She will find her mother and then all will be right. Maybe. Throw in a missing marquess–kidnapping, apparently–and some murderous thugs, and you’ve got yourself a proper adventure.

Like a lot of adaptations, the movie completely altered the plot of The Missing Marquess to better fit the screen. They made the marquess a romantic interest (smart move), made the Holmes matriarch a bit less of an enigma (women’s rights!), turned the two thugs into one and entirely changed their motives. And as far as Sherlock goes…prepare to see a softer, squishier side that might not sit well with most traditionalists.

The book is the first in a series, and I’ve just polished off the second one: The Case of the Left-Handed Lady. This was even better than the first, with more character depth with a meatier, albeit stranger, plot.

If Sherlock Holmes were in the Public Domain, I’d be having a bit o’ fun with the character right now. Who wouldn’t love to read a fantasy novel with the famous detective right at the center of it? Ah. I can dream, but alas.

Keep your nose in a book,
Beth