Enola Holmes and the Elegant Escapade (Enola Holmes, 8)
Enola Holmes, Sherlock's much younger, and feistier, sister, returns in an adventure of a confused young Baronet's daughter who is on the run from her father's devious schemes in Nancy Springer's Enola Holmes and the Elegant Escapade.
Enola Holmes, the much younger sister of Sherlock, is now living independently in London and working as a scientific perditorian (a finder of persons and things). But that is not the normal lot of young women in Victorian England. They are under the near absolute control of their nearest male relative until adulthood. Such is the case of Enola's friend, Lady Cecily Alastair. Twice before Enola has rescued Lady Cecily from unpleasant designs of her caddish father, Sir Eustace Alastair, Baronet. And when Enola is brusquely turned away at the door of the Alastair home it soon becomes apparent that Lady Cecily once again needs her help.
Affecting a bold escape, Enola takes Lady Cecily to her secret office only to be quickly found by the person hired by Lady Cecily's mother to find the missing girl - Sherlock Holmes himself. But the girl has already disappeared again, now loose on her own in the unforgiving city of London.
Even worse, Lady Cecily has a secret that few know. She has dual personalities - one, which is left-handed, is independent and competent; the other, which is right-handed, is meek and mild. Now Enola must find Lady Cecily again - before one of her personalities gets her into more trouble than she can handle and before Sherlock can find her and return her to her father. Once again, for Enola, the game is afoot.
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Community Reviews
This time, we find Enola trying desperately to help her friend Lady Cecily from her horrible father, Sir Eustace Alastair. He locks both Lady Cecily and her mother up in their quarters and takes away their shoes and clothes so that they are held prisoners of their own home. Enola rescues her friend but Sherlock Holmes was hired to bring Lady Cecily back to her mama. Unfortunately, that is where the caddish father resides.
Not all is afoot and something is indeed off. Could there be two sides to Lady Cecily? Thankfully, Enola proves herself to be a perditorian and even tries her best to right the wrong.
What I adore about this book is how Enola relies on her wits and chameleon ways. Enola is exceptionally resourceful, observant, and survives in a manâs world. She can alter her appearance and with the help of some friends, pull off many ruses to her benefit. When she thinks nobody cares enough about her and that her motherâs choice of her name spelled backward is correct, she realizes without a shadow of a doubt, that she is cared about. The warmth and respect Sherlock have for Enola boosts her confidence and she can see things in a different light than he. Sherlock is more rigid with his way of seeing things but Enola can see things from a womanâs perspective which makes her point of view even more of use to Sherlock. They worked on this case together.
Itâs a light mystery read but filled with a fun adventure. Perfect for tweens.
â ï¸Triggering topics: mental health
Special thanks to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for sending me this audio review copy in exchange for my honest opinion.
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