Enola Holmes

 Enola Holmes, a book of mystery, excitement and adventure written by Nancy Springer. The book tells the story of a young girl who is determined to find her missing mother rather than her famous detective brother, Sherlock. As Enola's mum goes missing she finds herself in the care of her brothers Sherlock and Mycroft in which Mycroft is adamant that she should attend boarding school however, Enola has other plans. Enola finds herself running away to East London in search for her mother however as she strolls through these dangerous streets she is side tracked and begins a search for another missing person in London. 

As she begins this search it is only because she plays on her relation to Sherlock in order to be apart of this investigation she takes his place. Her brothers did not grow up with their mother like Enola did therefore it could be argued that the only reason behind this is to escape the truth in the midst of searching for it. Or maybe she is simply escaping her nasty brother Mycroft and the plans he has for her or maybe as a lover of literature and symbolism that I am looking into this too much however, what literature lover does not get too in depth when it comes to symbolism and what the author is trying to tell us. Despite the reason behind Enola doing what she did, she discovers more about herself. As you read on it is quite clear that she is a sibling of Sherlock, a famous detective due to her amazing mind and how she discovers everything, her character development is amazing to read and I adore how Nancy built on this so well. 

Interestingly, Enola spelt backwards means alone and ironically when running away to Est London she dresses and disguises herself as a widow - someone who has lost their spouse due to them passing away. The fact she decides to disguise herself as a widow could be a secret plea to say that she feels alone since her mother went missing and is a foreshadowing technique used my the author to suggest that Enola won't get the mother daughter reunion that she is expecting so much which brings a lot of empathy for Enola, a young girl who's world was flipped upside down overnight. This could happen to us at any time in life, our lives can change in the blink of an eye and it might not always be for the better which is something we can all relate to as we are still living in the midst of covid19.  The quote ' I wish there was a way to know you were in the good old days before you left them' has been stuck in my mind now more then ever. As the pandemic and the lock downs continue, it is so emotional for me to look back at memories from not even a year a go as life has changed so much and one of my biggest regrets is not appreciating them times enough. 

I hope I was able to get you thinking about what Nancy was trying to tell us through this story filled with adventure and as always I am going to conclude with a quote from the book itself 'Perhaps it's a world that needs changing'.