Hi there! I’m here to talk about the next installment in the Enola Holmes series, that I was invited to read early. **And every day we are reminded that discrimination against marginalized communities is still a serious problem, so click here to find a compilation of resources where you can donate your time, money, or whatever you can to support these communities. I still encourage you to research these causes on your own to educate yourself and find the best way to lend your support.**
Last year I was invited to be a part of the blog tour for the 7th installment of the Enola Holmes series, Enola Holmes and the Black Barouche (you can find a small review and an excerpt from chapter 5 here). I found it to be an enjoyable experience and connected enough to the main series so seasoned readers would appreciate the references, and unique enough that it could be a starting point for new readers. So a few months ago, the folks over at Wednesday Books reached out and offered the chance to read the next book, Enola Holmes and the Elegant Escapade, early. This time we’re back with our finder of persons and things, Enola, her brother, Sherlock, and the appearance of Lady Cecily, a character who has appeared in several of the main series books (most likely starting in the 2nd book, The Case of the Left-Handed Lady). So I was interested enough to delve back into the world of Enola Holmes, and see what shenanigans she gets into next.
Enola Holmes, the much younger sister of well-known detective Sherlock Holmes, is currently living independently in London, studying and being a scientific perditorian (a finder of persons and things). But while Enola is able to have her independence, not all young women in Victorian England share the same liberties. Such is the case for Lady Cecily Alastair, who has already been rescued from her father, Sir Eustace Alastair, twice by Enola, but finds herself in need of rescuing yet again when she is confined to her bed chamber. Once Cecily has climbed down from her window in the middle of the night, Enola takes them both to her secret office to spend the night. However the next morning, Sherlock Holmes comes knocking, employed by Cecily’s mother to find her, but both Sherlock and Enola instead find the room empty of occupants, and now there is a girl loose on her own in the unforgiving city of London.
Honestly, I really like Enola as a character. She knows exactly who she is and what she’s capable of, even if other people find her strange or doubt / underestimate her abilities. It’s also evident in this installment that she isn’t against asking for help, turning to her brother, Sherlock, or a family friend, Lady Vienna, when she’s reached a sort of dead end. Enola cares deeply for the ones she holds close, and that’s why she is so adamant against Lady Cecily returning to her family home under the “too watchful” eye of her father, who, in my eyes, is abusive toward her and her mother, using his position as patriarch to force the household into submission. Enola will do anything to keep her friend safe, even if that means allowing her to slip past her brother’s grasp and return on her own to the streets of London. I think I would’ve liked this book more if I had been introduced to Lady Cecily earlier in the series – we do get her perspective in the prologue, and she does do a good job of recapping her involvement and establishing her history with Enola, so I think readers of the original six books will enjoy a callback to a previous character they know and love. I also wish that we could have gotten additional chapters from Cecily’s point of view – we do see her escape with Enola, we know she’s stolen some of Enola’s things from a secret message she’s left, and while she does appear more towards the end, I think it could have been interesting to see her make her way on her own. Enola succeeds in her quest to collect information to help free her friend by using sneak tactics (that almost finds her caught in a laundry chute), disguises, and a fake identity that add much-needed levity to an otherwise serious situation. These books are incredibly readable, and I will continue to pick them up to see what is next for our favorite perditorian.
I will admit I was a little concerned when I came across this line in the synopsis: “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.” I wasn’t sure how these “dual personalities” were going to be handled throughout the story (and if it had been referenced in the previous installments). Enola is always concerned when Cecily’s “right-handedness” takes charge, because “left-handed Cecily” doesn’t remember what happens in those times, and she acts more mild and meek because that is how society (or perhaps more pertinent her father) would like her to behave. To be fair, Cecily isn’t present for much of this novel, besides the prologue, epilogue, and some moments where she sends correspondence to Enola in between, so the main instances where it’s mentioned is Enola’s inner monologue, or her trying to explain it to Sherlock or Lady Vienna. It is definitely accurate that those around in this time period would not be familiar with dissociation, or even cases of multiple personality disorder (now better characterized as dissociative identity disorder). I did appreciate that when Cecily is having a moment upset at herself for not remembering something she did while her “right-handedness took over,” there is a line where Sherlock says something like ‘to be one’s self is not misbehaving,’ to assure Cecily that while they might not understand truly what is going on, it is not misbehavior. I’m still not sure how I feel about this aspect of Cecily’s character, but there were moments where I found it was handled as well as it could be for the time period.
In conclusion, I’d say this was a nice read to pass the time, and I think readers of the original series will enjoy this more than the last for the inclusion of characters seen before. I’m glad there are character like Enola who show that while not everyone in Victorian England could be independent, there were surely those who strived to be against the norm and make society a better place. Enola Holmes and the Elegant Escapade will be released on September 6th, 2022, which is just one week away, so please consider picking up a copy for yourself if you’re at all interested. *Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Wednesday Books, for the e-copy, all thoughts and opinions are my own.*
Where to find Enola Holmes and the Elegant Escapade:
Bookshop
Amazon
Goodreads
Storygraph
Macmillan
Nancy Springer’s site
Thoughts About Things 