From School Library Journal
Starred Review. Grade 4-8–In what is hopefully the start of an exciting new series,
Missing Marquess features the intriguing, much younger sister of Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes. Enola was a late-life baby, causing something of a scandal in society. Her rather vague mother is a 64-year-old widow who disappears on Enolas 14th birthday. It takes the girl a short time to realize that her mother left her some ciphers that indicate why she went away and how she is faring. The teen reluctantly enlists the services of her adult brothers, who quickly determine that Lady Holmes has been padding the household accounts for years. When they decide that their sister belongs at a boarding school, Enola escapes and heads for London dressed as a widow. There she is able to solve a mystery involving the disappearance of young Viscount Tewksbury. She decides to stay in the city, adopting a number of disguises, and become a Perditorian, or finder of lost things or people. Springer focuses a great deal on the restrictions placed on Victorian females by showing how unusual Enolas bravery and common sense are, even as she often struggles with conventional reactions. She wants her brothers affection, or indeed anyones, but knows that a socially accepted life will strictly limit her freedom and learning. Enolas loneliness, intelligence, sense of humor, and sheer pluck make her an extremely appealing heroine who hopefully will one day find the affection for which she so desperately longs.
–B. Allison Gray, John Jermain Library, Sag Harbor, NY Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
From Booklist
*Starred Review* Gr. 5-8. Springer, author of the popular Tales of Rowen Hood series featuring Robin Hood's daughter, mines the classics once more, and finds Sherlock Holmes' 14-year-old sister, Enola Holmes, who also has keen powers of observation. Enola lives alone with her mother on the family estate. Mrs. Holmes has always been a free spirit, but Enola is shocked when, on her birthday, her mother goes missing. Sherlock and Mycroft, Enola's long-absent, much-older brothers, arrive and assure her that they will look into the disappearance; she will be sent away to boarding school. Determined to avoid that fate, and anxious to find her mother on her own, Enola leaves for London, where she thinks her mother may be--a plan as shaky as the bicycle she sets off on. Along the way, she becomes enmeshed in another disappearance, the case of a young marquess, who seems to have been kidnapped, and in true Holmes fashion, Enola uses her powers of deduction to figure out his fate. This is a terrific package. Springer not only provides two fine mysteries (complete with clues and ciphers to solve), breathtaking adventure, and key-eyed description but she also offers a worthy heroine, who will be the center of a new series (the cover proclaims this "An Enola Holmes Mystery.") Enola is a high-spirited girl, just the right mix of nascent nineteenth-century feminist and awkward teen, with a first-person voice that's fun to hear. Readers can move from this to Phillip Pullman's Victorian thrillers, the Sally Lockhart trilogy, which begins with
The Ruby in the Smoke (1987).
Ilene CooperCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.