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1oddkatreads's review
adventurous
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
I needed something lighthearted and engaging to listen to on a long drive, and was aiming for a "cozy style" mystery. So many of the adult mysteries, even within the "cozy" genre, focus overmuch on violent death and unpleasant characters, so I've been drawn back recently, to the sort of clever children's mysteries I enjoyed in my youth.
The Enola Holmes series suits my tastes perfectly. This engaging, well written, youth-geared novel focuses on the character of Sherlock's bold and brilliant younger sister Enola, with a nod to their free spirited, suffragist mother.
I think the creation of those characters is a brilliant expansion on the Holmes mythology, and masterfully done by the author, who steers clear of anachronism and applying a filter of modern perspectives, to focus instead on a believable, historically-backed portrayal of precisely how real, rebellious women pushed back and carved out space for themselves throughout the 19th century.
This is not the first in the series, but it's the first I happened upon, and enough backstory is provided to bring the reader up to speed. The following summary contains some reference to this foundational backstory, but no spoilers to the plot of the mystery.
Shortly after the death of the Holmes family patriarch, their mother, Eudoria, inspired very Eudora, very much inspired I think, by Virginia Woolf and her ilk, disappears. This novel takes place just short of a year after that event.
Rather than submit herself to default guardian and eldest brother Mycroft's intention to send her to finishing school, Enola has gone on the run. To retain her freedom she's spent the past year evading her brilliant brothers, while living practically under their noses in London, by extraordinarily clever and industrious means.
I was thrilled to discover that, at least in this novel, it appears this author has chosen to represent the women of the Holmes family as possessing the same intellectual passion and sentimental detachment as the men, without any deference to notions of these being inherently gendered characteristics.
She truly equalizes the characters, going so far as to have Enola as narrator explicitly choosing to "spare readers" the excruciating details of her necessary use of traditionally feminine communication methods to cajole and persuade male characters into accepting her assistance.
I nearly roared with laughter the first time she alerts us to this omission of trivial and bothersome details, with more than a little exasperation. Enola, and the author it seems, have no desire to dwell on tedious social machinations and prefer to further the plot.
She cleverly acknowledges that these "ladylike" performances are an uncomfortable and irksome necessity for Enola and one that does not similarly burden her brothers, but she refuses to waste any additional time or words describing the mindnumbing process of it all. She suggests this is unnecessary, since these machinations are of course, painfully familiar to most women anyway.
The mystery itself is engaging and the aspects of life in 19th century London she chooses to highlight are actually quite interesting, rather than simply period stage dressing. All in all, a delightful read/listen. Highly recommend.
The Enola Holmes series suits my tastes perfectly. This engaging, well written, youth-geared novel focuses on the character of Sherlock's bold and brilliant younger sister Enola, with a nod to their free spirited, suffragist mother.
I think the creation of those characters is a brilliant expansion on the Holmes mythology, and masterfully done by the author, who steers clear of anachronism and applying a filter of modern perspectives, to focus instead on a believable, historically-backed portrayal of precisely how real, rebellious women pushed back and carved out space for themselves throughout the 19th century.
This is not the first in the series, but it's the first I happened upon, and enough backstory is provided to bring the reader up to speed. The following summary contains some reference to this foundational backstory, but no spoilers to the plot of the mystery.
Shortly after the death of the Holmes family patriarch, their mother, Eudoria, inspired very Eudora, very much inspired I think, by Virginia Woolf and her ilk, disappears. This novel takes place just short of a year after that event.
Rather than submit herself to default guardian and eldest brother Mycroft's intention to send her to finishing school, Enola has gone on the run. To retain her freedom she's spent the past year evading her brilliant brothers, while living practically under their noses in London, by extraordinarily clever and industrious means.
I was thrilled to discover that, at least in this novel, it appears this author has chosen to represent the women of the Holmes family as possessing the same intellectual passion and sentimental detachment as the men, without any deference to notions of these being inherently gendered characteristics.
She truly equalizes the characters, going so far as to have Enola as narrator explicitly choosing to "spare readers" the excruciating details of her necessary use of traditionally feminine communication methods to cajole and persuade male characters into accepting her assistance.
I nearly roared with laughter the first time she alerts us to this omission of trivial and bothersome details, with more than a little exasperation. Enola, and the author it seems, have no desire to dwell on tedious social machinations and prefer to further the plot.
She cleverly acknowledges that these "ladylike" performances are an uncomfortable and irksome necessity for Enola and one that does not similarly burden her brothers, but she refuses to waste any additional time or words describing the mindnumbing process of it all. She suggests this is unnecessary, since these machinations are of course, painfully familiar to most women anyway.
The mystery itself is engaging and the aspects of life in 19th century London she chooses to highlight are actually quite interesting, rather than simply period stage dressing. All in all, a delightful read/listen. Highly recommend.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Racism, Sexism, Xenophobia, and Classism
Moderate: Animal cruelty
Minor: Infertility, Miscarriage, and Violence
Content notes: as may be clear from the title itself, social attitudes represented in the novel, while in many ways progressive for the time are period accurate. Observations and descriptions of the "underclasses" and non-English characters made by members of the Holmes family run a spectrum from curiosity and disdain, to disgust and revulsion, with some brief mentions amongst them, about prejudices of the others, but no awareness of their own. I feel this both accurate to their characters, and a subtle, nuanced method of highlighting the ways in which one can believe oneself to be progressive, logical, and objective, while still maintaining prejudicial and assumptive beliefs. Approach according to your comfort level with this dialectic.