Another of the winter holiday book exchange books was Enola Holmes: the Graphic Novels Book One by Serena Blasco (graphic novel, 188 pages).

“Step aside, Sherlock! The famous detective’s strong-willed younger sister takes center stage in this vibrant graphic novel based on Nancy Springer’s bestselling mystery series. Fourteen-year-old Enola Holmes wakes on her birthday to discover that her mother has disappeared from the family’s country manor, leaving only a collection of flowers and a coded message book. With Sherlock and Mycroft determined to ship her off to a boarding school, Enola escapes, displaying a cleverness that impresses even the elder Holmes. But nother prepares her for what lies ahead …”

I’ve seen a few screenshots of the Netflix film and it looks a lot like the film spends a lot of time focused on Enola’s love interests, which is completely different than the graphic novel. I think one of the key parts about this graphic novel I enjoy so much is Enola’s freedom, intelligence, and distinct lack of interest in romance. She is, after all, only fourteen years old and I think stories like this are critical to young humans growing up, as I believe there’s currently too much of a push to sexualize young women pretty much as soon as their gender is identified. This book was remarkably refreshing in how Enola lives her life.

The art work, coloring, pencils, and story are all so different and well-done. The color and art are definitely a unique design not seen often and it took me a little bit to get used to it, since most of the graphic novels I read are more along the superhero lines. The interesting part to me about the different art style is how much this entire graphic novel felt like Victorian-Era London.

There’s telegrams, horribly uncomfortable women’s clothes and societal expectations on women and women’s clothes, trains, common bicycle use, stage coaches, insulting views on women’s intelligence and their role in society, the Big Eastern steamships, simple yet believable disguises, secret codes, and flowers with meaning.

The best part about this graphic novel is how Enola uses those same societal expectations to her own benefit. She knows women are basically invisible, so her very first disguise isn’t to dress up as a boy but rather to dress in all black as a widow. She uses this disguise to board a train to London, going right into the area under her brothers’ noses because she knows Sherlock especially will be looking for her to disguise herself as a boy.

She even finds a way to invent her own corset so she can carry all her belongings on her secretly because no one would ever suspect to check the corset of a lady. It’s ingenious and it using the strengths of being a lady of those times to her full advantage. It’s also dressed as a widow where she’s able to rescue the twelve-year-old viscount, Tewksbury, by finding that he actually ran away. Tewksbury seems very intrigued by the idea of people dressing outside their genders and there is probably negative romantic undertones because she’s just trying to rescue him.

One of Enola’s best disguises, in my opinion, is Miss Ivy Meshle, where she pretends to be a secretary for a people finder and then pretends the people finder is always gone so the citizens wind up giving her the information instead. She then uses this information to run her own investigations and is fairly successful. Miss Ivy Meshle is vastly different than the Silent Sister of the Streets, who honestly does more good for the downtrodden than I’ve seen from anyone in this era. It’s refreshing 🙂

Overall, this book is a lot of fun and is probably a four on my rating scale. I’m very glad it was sent to me so I own my own copy, I’ve already reread it once and will likely continue to do so in the future, and I’m definitely going to find the next installments in this series.

Blasco, Serena. Enola Holmes: the Graphic Novels Book One. Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2022.