Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Impossible-- Nancy Werlin





I am always looking for books that have a little bit of magic to take me out of my normal day-to-day. I don't mean actual magic, not hocus-pocus stuff, Harry Potter stuff, or witchie stuff. I mean the magic that transports you from your couch to the time and place in which a really good story takes place. Impossible, by Nancy Werlin, is one of those magical books.

We've all heard that folk song right? You know, the one Simon and Garfunkel made popular...

"Are you going to Scarborough Fair?
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme..."

This novel is based on that folksong... mostly. Lucy Scarborough is the foster daughter of Soledad and Leo. Her mother, Miranda, is an insane bag lady who wanders the streets singing snippets of the Scarborough Fair song. When Lucy turns 17, Miranda starts pursuing Lucy in earnest; she has an important message for her and will get through to her no matter what. The women in Lucy's family are cursed, and have been for generations. They must accomplish three nonsensical tasks as laid out in the Scarborough Fair song, and will go insane at 18 if they do not succeed. Luckily, Lucy has what the other women in her family did not: very supportive foster parents and Zach, a boy who loves her unendingly. This story is a little bit fairytale, a little bit romance, and very engaging.

I would recommend this book to teens who like retellings of fairy tales, fantasy, fairy-lore, and romance.

1 comment:

Becky said...

I loved this book!

It creeped me out, gave me goosebumps, and I couldn't put it down.
It read pretty fast too.

The only thing I didn't like about it was the title. It is boring and doesn't make you want to read it.
Something like "The Scarborough Curse" would have been better. Something eery.