strange and random happenstance: The Language of Flowers

The Case of the Peculiar Pink Fan by Nancy Springer
Published by: Puffin Books
Publication Date: September 18th, 2008
Format: Kindle, 204 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

Enola Holmes is taking a bit of a respite in one of London's brand new public lavatories for women. Such luxury, such decadence, such convenience! While there she sees someone she's been hoping to run into for quite some time, Lady Cecily Alistair. Ever since Enola rescued her from the clutches of Alexander Finch she has been hoping the two would become the best of friends. But when you're busy evading the grasp of your brothers, socializing isn't really at the top of your priorities. Plus, with her caseload, when would she have the time? But now she must make time, because Lady Cecily looks distraught. When Lady Cecily sees Enola she pulls out a pink fan and signals that she needs help. Before the two gorgons who are guarding Cecily return she drops the fan for Enola to pick up. Enola now has two clues, the gorgons and the fan. She would have more if she had been able to follow the trio, but she literally ran right into her brother Mycroft and that had her a bit shaken. She was hopeful that the gorgons dropped Lady Cecily at home, but that would be too easy. She is no longer in residence. What's more, Lady Cecily's mother has fled to her country estate which means Enola doesn't have a friendly face within the family to help with her inquiries. Back at her lodgings she scours old society columns looking for the gorgons but to no avail. Not only does she realize how much she hates gossip columns, but it has given her an idea. The fan has become the most important clue and this happens to lead her to one of the gorgons, whom flattery and vanity work wonders on. Lady Cecily is engaged to her cousin Bramwell. Judging by how she looked in the ladies lavatory this isn't by choice. Finding out where Lady Cecily is supposedly located Enola learns she isn't the only Holmes on the case. This could be a major problem, especially after her run in with Mycroft. Luckily, for perhaps the only time, she has the upper hand with Sherlock. She will help him and in return he will not use this case as a way to trap her. Because Lady Cecily's safety is, for the moment, more important than Enola's.

Anyone who has ever done a deep dive into historical fiction or British costume dramas has, at some point, learned a little in passing about the language of fans. Using a fan to communicate that which cannot be spoken to members of the opposite sex seems a bit far-fetched and impractical to me. At least with the language of flowers you can sit around admiring them and decoding them as you will, but fan gestures to me seem so fleeting and, dare I say, useless. But I love how this series is always using codes and secrets that are relegated to the female domain and making them useful for purposes other than flirting. Here is the first time I've seen fans used in a logical manner, aka, to call for help when to say so out loud would be dangerous. Genius! No one would, or in this case did, suspect and Lady Cecily was saved due to a pink fan. And while this is brilliant, I think what shines out most in this volume is it's humor. Nancy Springer knew that to balance the darkness of what Lady Cecily was going through there needed to be some truly funny moments to counter the bleak. I literally snorted out loud with mirth when Enola ran into Mycroft, screaming and then injuring him to make her escape. But nothing will EVER compare to how Nancy Springer wrote Enola's internal monologue while she searched the Victorian papers for clues as to the identities of Lady Cecily's captures. "Although I cannot say I particularly enjoyed it. Over the course of the next several hours I learned that croquet was quite passé, tennis and archery still in mode, but the Very Latest Sport for ladies was golf. Lord Jug-ears and Lady Parsnip-face had been seen coaching in Hyde Park; she wore a Worth gown of ciel-bleu French gibberish moire...A most distinguished gathering had attended the christening of Baby So-and-so, firstborn son of Lord Such-a-much Earl of What-does-it-matter. Satin was Out, peau de soie In. An oil-painting exhibition themed around the Progress of the British Empire was viewable at Gallery Ever-so-exclusive. Viscount and Viscountess Ancient-lineage announced the engagement of their daughter Long-name to Great-prospects, the younger son of Earl Blue-blood...I peered at photographs of Duchess Duck-foot’s boating-party, Baron Bulb-nose’s cricket-team’s annual banquet, Debutante Wasp-waist’s coming-out ball, and dozens more without finding either of the two unpleasant faces I sought." Well, I can say I did particularly enjoy it.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments

Labels: Bramwell, Enola Holmes, Forced Marriage, Gossip, Lady Cecily Alistair, Mycroft Holmes, Newspapers, Sherlock Holmes, Sherlocked, The Case of the Peculiar Pink Fan, The Language of Fans, The Language of Flowers

The Case of the Bizarre Bouquets by Nancy Springer
Published by: Puffin Books
Publication Date: January 1st, 2007
Format: Kindle, 170 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

Enola's encounters with Sherlock's right-hand-man, Dr. Watson, have been brief. Yet in that time she knew she was in the presence of an extraordinary man and that should anything ever happen to him she would do whatever was in her power to help. The occasion has arisen sooner than she ever thought possible as Dr. Watson has gone missing. Yes, helping find Dr. Watson might, just might, expose herself to her brothers, and result in her being hauled off to the nearest reform school with constricting corsets, but for Dr. Watson the risk is worth it. Yet she must adopt a disguise her brothers would never suspect if she is going to pay a call on Dr. Watson's wife, Mary. She decides she will appear as the very last thing her brothers would suspect, a beautiful young woman in the height of fashion. When she appears on the Watson's doorstep as Viola Everseau she is extremely confident the beauty she has become could be in the same room as her brothers and she wouldn't be found out. A theory that will be tested and proved correct before she leaves Mary. Yet it's what she finds at the Watson's that doesn't just unnerve her but makes her fear for Dr. Watson. The cops may say what they will about him getting away from it all for a few days, but Sherlock, Mary, and Enola know better and for Enola, the flowers speak volumes. Because among all the flowers and cards wishing Mary well during the disappearance of her husband there is one bouquet that stands out. It is a thing of beauty which belies the evil within. Each and every flower oozes venom and hatred. How could Sherlock not know the language of flowers? How could he miss this clue? Whomever has Dr. Watson, they want him to suffer and die. Therefore she must follow the flowers. Taking a room across the road from the Watson's home she sets up a watch. The flowers aren't a one time occurrence and therefore that is the evildoers weakness. Time and patience are what is needed, something that is in short supply when Dr. Waton's life might be in constant danger. But Enola knows one thing, this isn't about besting her brother, though that would be sweet, this is about Mary and Dr. Waton being reunited. That is all that matters, reunion with a lost loved one. Something Enola longs for herself.

This mystery galvanized me. The second Enola saw that evil bouquet a shiver ran up my spine. To lovingly grow and arrange such flowers with such an evil intent signals the sign of true villainy. In other words, this mystery was totally my jam. What's more I love that it reinforced how Enola is able to see what Sherlock doesn't. He would view flowers as "beneath him" because they are decoration and nothing more than something to do with women, a species he doesn't understand. When in fact those flowers are the whole essence of the case! Yes, it's a bit niche and Victorian, what with Enola and her mother communicating using this code, but Sherlock's bafflement as to what their code is is exactly why Sherlock has been at a loss to find either his mother or his sister and therefore makes it all the more important. This series has really made me think on how masculine the original Sherlock Holmes series is. That is why when the show Sherlock came about it made sense to call Irene Adler "The Woman" because in the canon of Sherlock Holmes she is in essence the only woman that matters. Dr. Watson's wife actually dies and he gets remarried and it's barely mentioned because women literally don't matter in this world they inhabit. Thus the idea of a prying, nosy, clever, and conscientious little sister being foisted on Sherlock and Mycroft is such a wonderful conceit. It's like literally the last thing they could possibly handle and handle it they must. One thing which I'm still not sure if it was handled right or wrong was the fact that the villain was a cross-dresser. Or as Sherlock says, suffers from "George Sandism," in reference to the French novelist who scandalously wore male clothing. While I've mentioned that this is a common mystery trope it's also one of the things that got Robert Galbraith's Troubled Blood in hot water. Of course the hate pouring off the pages of Troubled Blood is the exact opposite as here. This was handled delicately, but at the same time I was slightly troubled by the connection of mental instability and clothing choice.... It's a tricky subject and is something that merits discussion, or, at the very least, acknowledging that we have to do better.