delphi: An illustrated crow kicks a little ball of snow with a contemplative expression. (Default)
Delphi (they/them) ([personal profile] delphi) wrote 2019-11-15 12:00 am (UTC)

It was nice to knock something off the list!

If you're at all interested in mysteries/historical fiction aimed at a younger audience, I definitely recommend this series. I know the market's oversaturated with Holmes pastiches, but this one legitimately has a lot to set it apart. The main character is Sherlock and Mycroft's much-younger sister, whose late in life arrival was a scandal for their mother, and who grows up half-wild on the family estate until the day her mother suddenly disappears.

It's not didactic issue-fiction by any stretch, but it is a well-researched and unabashedly feminist look at how the business of solving mysteries would play out differently if someone with Sherlock and Mycroft's genius (and even the benefit of their racial/class privilege) happened to be female in that time period. Like, the issue of public bathrooms for women in London is seriously a recurring plot thread. Enola's an engaging young protagonist, the series features some great cameos from actual 19th century figures, and I'm pretty sure all three Holmes siblings are low-key established to be queer, which is always a bonus.

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