Book Review- Nancy Springer's The Case of the Left-Handed Lady
The Case of the Left-Handed Lady by Nancy Springer
Published by: Puffin Books
Publication Date: January 1st, 2007
Format: Kindle, 252 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)
Enola goes by the name Miss Ivy Meshle now and works for Dr. Ragostin, the world's first perditorian, one who divines that which is lost. Of course there's the little fact that Dr. Ragostin doesn't actually exist and that Enola doesn't limit her disguises to just Miss Meshle. Enola wanted to hang out her shingle in competition to her famous brother Sherlock, he had found his life's work and now she had found hers. Only she had to make sure Sherlock and her other brother Mycroft wouldn't find her, hence the alias and the fictitious boss. That and the wholly sexist notion that no one would believe a woman capable of running what amounts to a detective agency. Thanks to her mother Enola was actually able to buy the building Dr. Ragostin's offices are in, running the other rooms as a boarding house, thus providing her with a tidy income. She'd show the world what a woman could do, even if she couldn't take the credit. And as luck would have it she has discovered her first case. Lady Cecily Alistair is the daughter of a wealthy baronet and she has gone missing. The family doesn't want this known because it would reflect badly on them and ruin their daughter's chances of making a good match. Enola therefore knows she must tread carefully and arrives at the Alistair's London home as the young wife of Dr. Ragostin. She is admitted into the inner sanctum of the house and soon has access to Lady Cecily's rooms. It is odd indeed. Things appear as if Lady Cecily just got out of bed and climbed down the ladder pushed up against her window and simply left her family behind. But a young woman of breeding would never do that would she? What's more, Lady Cecily had secrets. Most interestingly, she was left-handed, a fact her family didn't want known and she kept hidden, often forced to use her right hand. Her true feelings and talents only emerge when she secretly uses her left hand. Her worries about the London poor, her drawings of their plight, and her letters to a Alexander Finch. What could it all mean? All Enola knows is that Lady Cecily seems like the type of girl Enola would be proud to call her first friend and therefore she must rescue her from whatever situation she has gotten herself into. No matter how dangerous.
I know I can't be the only one who was tickled that Enola's solution to setting up her own business is basically the plot to Remington Steele. She is the Victorian era's Laura Holt! Though if anyone suggests setting up Viscount Tewkesbury as Steele I will be forced to slap them. This series keeps surprising me again and again with just how relevant it is. Which in a way makes me sad that it's been over a hundred years and the problems Enola was dealing with are still being dealt with. Yeah yeah, I know these were written only a few years back and not in the Victorian era, but Nancy Springer does her research and captures the time period perfectly in a way to which we can relate. What shocked me though was how eerily relevant the anti-vaxxer mob was. Did she know something we didn't know about how dumb people are and what could happen if another pandemic happened? At least in the Victorian era it was a little more understandable because of the lack of education and the high illiteracy rate, which makes it even more shocking to me that educated people will latch onto the lie in this day and age. WE SHOULD KNOW BETTER. And we really should know better than the uneducated poor of the Victorian slums. Which is why I love this series, it's so socially aware. Enola doesn't live in a bubble. She understands excatly where she stands in society, the rights she doesn't have, the power her brothers do, and she works to subvert that all while helping those who need it. The fact that she dresses up as a nun and walks the streets at night offering them food or a warm blanket shows that she gets that even the smallest kindness can help. What's more it offers a nice balance to her brothers. They both live in this rarefied world. Sherlock only really views the poor and destitute as good disguises to blend in. But does he ever think to help these people? No! Just look at how he treats his irregulars! They are conveniently of a low enough station to be of use to him. If he helped them more, elevated them out of the slums, they would be of no use to him and so he doesn't help. And in the final contrast to her brother, Enola's purpose in life as a perditorian isn't about making a name for herself, it's about finding what was lost, a cause close to her as she has lost her mother. To find one's purpose at so young an age must be a wonderful feeling.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
