What I'm reading- Impossible

There is a box of books in the wardrobe room full of books. When people finish a good book sometimes they add to it. They add not so great books too. Sometimes actors will leave books in the wardrobe library when they finish a show. The wardrobe library used to be a small little thing with maybe five books and one of them was a Nicholas Sparks book but now it is an overflowing box plus a grocery bag full of books. This is how I came across Impossible by Nancy Werlin.

This book was published in 2008. I picked it up and looked at it when it first showed up in the wardrobe library but it wasn’t until I saw it in the YA section at the real library that it caught my attention.

This book is inspired by the Simon and Garfunkel song “Scarborough Fair” and it mixes fantasy and ancient curses in a contemporary setting.

In the book Lucy Scarborough is haunted by her birth mother who randomly shows up in her life usually singing the song Scarborough Fair. Her mother, Miranda, suffers from mental illness and spends most of her life living in shelters and disappearing for long periods of time.

Lucy is practical and down to earth but finding Miranda’s diary leads her to believe that she may be part of an ancient curse. When Lucy becomes pregnant she worries she will end up like her mom.

But Lucy has things her mom didn’t have. She has loving foster parents and friends who support her. Together they work on how to solve the riddles in the curse (magical seamless shirt, plowing an acre of land with a goat’s horn) before Lucy has her baby.

The suspense of wondering if they will solve the puzzle and break the curse is what kept the pages turning in this book for me. I have been staying up late and reading any chance I had just to find out what was going to happen.

This book has an element of fantasy with the Scarborough Fair song and a version of the song called the Elfin Knight. The characters are so practical as they try to solve these riddles, using the internet to research the origins of the song and ebay to purchase a goat horn. I think the practicality of the characters makes the magical elements work for this book. I really recommend this book and will be returning it to the wardrobe room for someone else to read.