The Enola Holmes Mysteries

The Case of the Missing Marquess is a tale of Enola Holmes, Sherlock Holmes younger sister. Enola has always idolised her elder brothers as she spent her childhood alone (which backwards spells Enola) with her mother, learning everything from combat to cyphers. When her mother vanishes, she runs away from home to follow the disappearance, and she suddenly finds herself in a detective mystery like no other. I love the way Enola narrated the book. It's fast-paced and reads exactly like her stream of consciousness as she navigates, feeling wiser than her years, before entering the setting of London and finding it wasn’t as glamorous as she thought. “I had not yet seen a golden carriage.” As she finds herself entangled in the mystery of Tewksbury, she must grow up fast and use what her mother has taught her to deceive and fight her way to solving the case, just like her brother, or maybe not. The book had feminist themes throughout, not always written plainly or directly on the page, but you can see it when comparing the circumstances of Enola and her mother in comparison to the choices women have now, as well as the striking differences of what Enola could do against her brothers. My favourite passage was on page 161 where Enola compares herself once more to her brother as she has done since the first chapter but this time sees her strengths and skills and realises that Sherlock’s description that women are “Irrational, ignorant, the fair sex” actually benefits Enola to be able to conceal her talents and accomplish things Sherlock could never do. “I knew an entire world of communications belonging to women, secret codes of hat brims and rebellion.” I would recommend to ages 12+, it has a light description of certain injuries or ailments, but nothing too shocking. I would also recommend listening to the film soundtracks whilst reading the book!