Impossible. Nancy Werlin [Paperback]

Nancy Werlin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 2010

This is a beautifully wrought modern fairy tale from master storyteller and award-winning American author Nancy Werlin. Lucy is seventeen when she discovers that she is the latest recipient of a generations-old family curse that requires her to complete three seemingly impossible tasks or risk falling into madness and passing the curse on to the next generation. Unlike her ancestors, though, Lucy has family, friends and love. Is it enough to keep her safe?

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Starred Review. Grade 9 Up—Werlin combines magic, romance, and a family curse in this 21st-century fairy tale based on the ballad "Scarborough Fair." On the night of her prom, Lucy, 17, is raped by her date and becomes pregnant. She decides to keep the child, and she is supported by her foster parents and Zach, her childhood friend whose love for Lucy changes from platonic to romantic as the story progresses. The teen discovers the curse on the women in her family when she reads her birth mother's diary. Lucy is destined for madness at 18 unless she can perform the three impossible tasks described in the song and break the curse of the Elfin Knight. She is determined to rid herself and her unborn child of the curse, and her family and Zach help her as she works to solve the riddles. This unique story flows smoothly and evenly, and the well-drawn characters and subtle hints of magic early on allow readers to enter willingly into the world of fantasy. As in The Rules of Survival (Dial, 2006), Werlin addresses tough topics. Rape, teen pregnancy, and family madness set the story in motion, but the strength of Lucy's character and the love of her family and friends allow her to deal with such difficult matters and take on the impossible. Teens, especially young women, will enjoy this romantic fairy tale with modern trappings.—Jennifer D. Montgomery, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Date rape, a pregnant teen, and a shotgun wedding (of sorts)—must be a YA problem novel circa 1985, right? Not really. From a hidden letter, 17-year-old Lucy Scarborough learns “all sorts of melodramatic, ridiculous, but true things” about the circumstances surrounding her rape on prom night, her subsequent pregnancy, and why therapy and her signature pragmatism won’t be much help against an ancient fairy’s curse. By the Edgar Award–winning novelist whose thrillers include The Rules of Survival (2006), this tale, inspired by the song “Scarborough Fair,” showcases the author’s finesse at melding genres. Although it’s perhaps overly rosy that Lucy’s devoted foster parents take the curse in stride, Werlin earns high marks for the tale’s graceful interplay between wild magic and contemporary reality—from the evil fairy lord disguised as a charismatic social worker to the main players’ skepticism as they attempt to solve the curse’s three archaic puzzles (“We’ve formed the Fellowship of the Ring when really we should’ve all just gone on medication”). Meantime, Lucy’s marriage to childhood pal Zach, a development unusual in YA fiction but convincing in context, underlies the catapulting suspense with a notion that will be deeply gratifying to many teens: no destiny is unalterable, especially not when faced with tender love magic, “weird and hilarious and sweeter than Lucy ever dreamed,” worked by truly mated souls. Grades 7-11. --Jennifer Mattson --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Books (February 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0141330309
• ISBN-13: 978-0141330303
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 4.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (103 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,115,609 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Nancy Werlin was born and raised in Peabody, Massachusetts, USA and now lives near Boston. She received her bachelor's degree in English from Yale.Since then, she has worked as a technical writer and editor for several computer software and Internet companies, while also writing fiction. She is a National Book Award finalist.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A quick fantasy read., August 23, 2008

By 

Monica Garcia "ReadingWithMonie.com" (Arlington, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Impossible (Hardcover)

For the past five generations the women in Lucy Scarborough's family have been cursed to give birth to a girl at 17-years old then fall into madness. One difference in Lucy's case is that she has her foster family and good friend Zach to protect her. When the inevitable pregnancy happens Lucy finds her birth mother's diary and learns the secrets to breaking the curse. Now Lucy has nine months to figure out and complete three tasks. Will she do it on time and save herself and her daughter or will she be doomed to follow the women in her family into insanity?
The target audience is ages 12 and up however I feel that some of the subject matter in the book would be unsuitable for children so young. Without revealing any spoilers the way Lucy becomes pregnant and the discussions of sex in the book seem more suited for someone at least 16 years or older.
I got through the book in one day however it seemed to drag on more than I expected. Lucy's character is well written but I just couldn't connect with the other characters surrounding her. The happily ever after ending was unbelievable and I feel that the completion of the three tasks could have been developed a whole lot more being that they were a major plot point in Lucy breaking free of the curse.
I'm not convinced that true fantasy readers will like this story. To me it was passable but I would have liked more fantasy elements to the story. The book is more romance or fiction addressing social issues than fantasy. If you're looking for a realistic fantasy with lots of magical elements then this book might not work for you.

15 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Are you going to Scarborough Faire?, December 10, 2008

By 

R. Kyle (USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Impossible (Hardcover)

Raise your hand if you haven't heard the song "Scarborough Faire." Odds are, your hand is down and your head's full of music. As with many songs, the ballads are based on legends.

This is just one possible scenario for "Scarborough Faire."

On her seventh birthday, Lucy Scarborough finds a hidden letter in a hollowed out place in her bookshelves. She cannot read the cramped cursive writing, but she figures the old papers have some 'magic'. Angry at her best friend, Zach, she hides the baseball shirt which doesn't fit that he'd given her for her birthday with the letter and a wish that she'd find the shirt and letter when the shirt fit--and Zach would love her more.

It's ten years later and Lucy finds shirt and letter. She's 17 now and the warning in the letter which turned out to be from her biological Mom has come true.

The Scarborough women carry a curse. At seventeen, they all become pregnant, go crazy and abandon their infant child, and end up out on the streets.

Lucy doesn't quite believe the story--until her foster parents and Zach start helping her do some research. She's got a little less than nine months to perform three seemingly impossible tasks, or face the same fate as the rest of her line for generations.

"Impossible" is a wonderful story for lovers of folk songs, faery tales, and love stories. While the target audience is young adults, any age will love the timeless beauty of the tale.

Rebecca Kyle, December 2008

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Could have been better, January 13, 2010

By 

HannahR (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Impossible (Paperback)

I vacillated between 2 stars and 3 stars in my rating. I ended up giving it 3 stars since 2 stars indicated "I don't like it" and 3 stars indicated "It was ok".

So, it was just, OK.

Really, I wanted to love this book, because quite frankly the premise for Werlin writing it was very cool. I love authors who create a story out of an well known object (like a painting - shout out here to Tracy Chevalier!) or, in the case of Impossible, an old folk ballad: Scarborough Fair. I've loved that old Simon & Garfunkel tune since I was a kid, and didn't realize there were so many variations to the ballad.

Werlin was definitely on to something here, but for me, she lost it in her approach to this novel. IMO, I think she was trying too hard to merge both the magical aspect and the realistic aspect of the plot together. Due to the fact that you're dealing with an "elfin knight", a centuries old curse, and seemingly impossible tasks to complete, I would have enjoyed the novel more had it rested more heavily on the fantasy aspect and less on trying to fit it into a contemporary YA book. I just didn't buy into Lucy and Zach's relationship and eventual marriage, nor the way Lucy's family just accepted the curse and the tasks at hand. Too much suspension of disbelief for my taste.

Not a horrible book by any means, and certainly entertaining enough to keep you reading to find out what happens, but it could have been much, much better IMO.