Impossible

by Nancy Werlin

Impossible is a very unique book with a mostly satisfying ending, although I thought it lacked a little grandeur.

Impossible is the story of a 17-year-old girl who learns that the females of her family are cursed to become pregnant at 17, and then upon having the baby, go insane. It has happened generation after generation and now Lucy Scarborough finds herself pregnant and facing three impossible tasks that, if she can complete them, might just save her from this ancient curse.

The tasks that she must complete are found in a family version of the song "Scarborough Fair" - Lucy must make a shirt without needle or seam, find an acre of land "between the salt water and sea strand", and then plow the land with a goat's horn and "sow it all over with one grain of corn".

Lucy has the advantage of lots of people on her side - her adoptive parents and her childhood friend Zach - who turn their lives upside down to help Lucy break the curse.

So, I did like this book, it was interesting and different and I didn't completely know what to expect. But I was a little underwhelmed by the ending. I was hoping for more earth-shattering results either when the curse was broken or it took effect on Lucy, but it was very anti-climactic.

Also, this is really minor, but I still don't like the title very much. It just doesn't give you much of a sense of what the book is about, or even what kind of book it is. I think it would have been better titled Scarborough Fair or The Elfin Knight (the other title of the song/poem), but that's just me I guess.