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Enola Holmes Film Series


Artemis

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Moderator's note:  This thread is for discussion of the film series.  For discussion of the original books, see Enola Holmes Mysteries (books).

'Stranger Things' actress Millie Bobby Brown to produce and star in film series based on Enola Holmes novels.
 

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"In a deal with Legendary Entertainment, Brown will be starring in a series of films based on the Enola Holmes Mysteries, a YA detective series written by Nancy Springer, in which Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes’ younger sister, Enola, runs away from home after their mother’s disappearance to solve mysteries while eluding Sherlock’s efforts to bring her home."

 

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"The first book in a collection of six is called The Case of the Missing Marquess, and it kicks off the adventures of Sherlock Holmes’s much-younger sister, Enola, who neither he nor his brother Mycroft take very seriously, and they try to ship her off to boarding school after their mother disappears. Enola of course won’t have that, so she runs away and ends up encountering various mysteries and kidnappings to solve. More familiar figures, like Dr. John Watson, show up throughout the series to bring Enola along on her journey to becoming the next top mind in the Holmes family."
 
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That's about all the information available for now.  Thoughts?  Sound interesting?  Has anyone read these novels?

 

 

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That sounds pretty cool. I've read the first few books and enjoyed them. Not sure how "translatable" they are, but certainly willing to give this gal a chance!

I'd never heard of her before, so when I saw that she was also going to produce the show, I assumed she must be in her 20s at least, and wondered how she could ever pass for a teen -- but now I see that she's not quite 14 herself. She's already been nominated for a primetime Emmy, too. So yeah, will certainly go see the movie!

Wonder who they'll get to play Sherlock, Mycroft, John Watson, and the other canonical characters who turn up in the books from time to time? I sure hope they keep them as occasional secondary characters, though. The books are about Enola.

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'Stranger Things' actress Millie Bobby Brown to produce and star in film series based on Enola Holmes novels.

 

"In a deal with Legendary Entertainment, Brown will be starring in a series of films based on the Enola Holmes Mysteries, a YA detective series written by Nancy Springer, in which Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes’ younger sister, Enola, runs away from home after their mother’s disappearance to solve mysteries while eluding Sherlock’s efforts to bring her home."

"The first book in a collection of six is called The Case of the Missing Marquess, and it kicks off the adventures of Sherlock Holmes’s much-younger sister, Enola, who neither he nor his brother Mycroft take very seriously, and they try to ship her off to boarding school after their mother disappears. Enola of course won’t have that, so she runs away and ends up encountering various mysteries and kidnappings to solve. More familiar figures, like Dr. John Watson, show up throughout the series to bring Enola along on her journey to becoming the next top mind in the Holmes family."

 

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That's about all the information available for now. Thoughts? Sound interesting? Has anyone read these novels?

Sounds interesting Artemis. I’d never heard of the books.

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That sounds pretty cool. I've read the first few books and enjoyed them. Not sure how "translatable" they are, but certainly willing to give this gal a chance!

 

I'd never heard of her before, so when I saw that she was also going to produce the show, I assumed she must be in her 20s at least, and wondered how she could ever pass for a teen -- but now I see that she's not quite 14 herself. She's already been nominated for a primetime Emmy, too. So yeah, will certainly go see the movie!

 

Wonder who they'll get to play Sherlock, Mycroft, John Watson, and the other canonical characters who turn up in the books from time to time? I sure hope they keep them as occasional secondary characters, though. The books are about Enola.

Carol, are these books aimed at teenagers? Not that it matters but I just wondered.

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I'm not sure what their official age category is, but they're appropriate for children without being simplistic.  And I love the author's portrayal of the canonical characters.

 

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  • 1 year later...

More cast members have been announced (though only a few of their roles). The project is in post production with an expected release date sometime this year.What

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  • 7 months later...

This Netflix original movie stars Stranger Things' Millie Bobby Brown as the teenage half-sister of Sherlock & Mycroft Holmes.  Her mother (Helena Bonham Carter), a (surprise) Bohemian free spirit has gone missing, and Enola has to become a detective to find her. 

She consults her famous brothers.  Mycroft is appalled at  her lack of ladylike decorum, but Sherlock (Henry Cavill) recognizes a chip off the old (Holmes) block.  Sherlock is only a supporting part here, but Mr. Cavill has very Cumberbatch-like curls and vocal delivery.  I'm wondering if there's a recent movie or franchise he is *not* in . . he's everywhere.  Based on the series for children by Nancy Springer, this looks like a sprightly bit of entertainment that isn't going to be twee.  

https://www.netflix.com/title/81277950

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Thanks for the update, Hikari!

Moderator's note: We already had a thread about the Enola Holmes books (still located in Other Versions, here) as well as this one about the film series, originally located in Movies & Entertainment (which is why you didn't notice that it already existed). I've combined your new thread with this one, but moved it to Other Versions, where yours was (since the M&E area is mostly about non-Holmesian fare).  Hope I haven't confused anyone!

The announced worldwide release date for Enola Holmes is September 23rd, and even though it's a Netflix production, the movie is rated PG-13, so I'm guessing that it's headed for the theaters.  (After that, though, I suspect it'll be available only on Netflix for a year or so, then hopefully released on DVD.)

Is she his half-sister in the movie?  Near as I recall, the books have her as a full sister -- wonder why they wanted to change it?

I'm a bit disappointed not to see John Watson listed in the cast, but come to think of it, he isn't in the first book either.

 

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On 8/27/2020 at 2:56 PM, Carol the Dabbler said:

The announced worldwide release date for Enola Holmes is September 23rd, and even though it's a Netflix production, the movie is rated PG-13, so so I'm guessing that it's headed for the theaters.


Guess again, kiddo!  I finally watched the trailer, and right at the end it says

Only on NETFLIX
23 September

Looking on the bright side, I suppose that means it'll be released on DVD about a year after that, a bit sooner than I was expecting.   :D 

It looks worth waiting for, too.  A few changes from the book, but they make it more visual and don't change the actual plot.

 

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Carol,

Sorry for the double-posting.  I was unaware that the Enola Holmes book series had already been turned into a film series.  As this was a brand-new project, I just started a new thread.  Kind of surprised Netflix went this route, if there had already been a previous series covering the same ground.  A stand-alone feature would be more superficial, unless this is a completely original script that was not taken from any of the books or prior screenplays.  I think Netflix or another of the streaming services did a similar think with the Philip Pullman 'Dark Materials' trilogy.  Brave, since the Dan Craig helmed feature film of some 10 years ago bombed at the box office & plans to make the other two films were scrapped.

The novels of Nancy Springer were popular some 10 years ago as well; my library used to carry the series but it has been withdrawn owing to lack of circulation.  It's rather doubtful that this Netflix movie would generate enough interest from our target audience to justify reordering any--especially if this is an original story.  Stranger Things is pretty popular, but I think more among teens.  Our teens were fans of BBC Sherlock when it aired, but I'm not sure they'd be keen on a Victorian rendering, even with Millie Bobby Brown.  The Enola Holmes novels were in our juvenile fiction section for readers up to 5th-6th grade.  This version of Enola seems to be slightly older, based on the way they are dressing her, but I don't think there's going to be huge teen appeal for this.  They might be watching 'The Witcher' with Mr. Cavill, though.

I never read the books, but I skimmed over one or two; even though Enola says in the trailer 'my brothers' . . the boys are so much older than Enola--in their 30s to her teenage self--and the fact that she's had to take a train to London to see them and they refer to 'your mother', not 'our mother' . .makes me feel like they are not that well acquainted and Enola has grown up separately from them.  Hence, another mother.  Ms. Bonham Carter does not appear old enough to have sons in their 30s and then a 'surprise'? daughter half their age, but this is only my surmise.  It seemed to me in the novels that the age gap between Enola and Sherlock was not so great . . maybe 5 or 6 years, and they did indeed grow up in the same family.  As to why it would be changed . . having found their perfect 'Enola' who is a teen, but only known to viewers of TV, maybe they wanted to capture some adult fans of Mr. Cavill, who is the more established 'name' and, of course, Ms. Bonham Carter as Enola's mom.  The age gap suggested a second family, I guess.  Enola and her mother are living by themselves--no sign of a Mr. Holmes or the boys.  Presumably Mr. Holmes, Sr. is no longer living, or perhaps Enola's mum was his bit on the side?  The Holmes brothers seem to regard Enola more as benign uncles than her brothers.  This was my impression, but they may explain otherwise.  If they are indeed full siblings and Sherlock is supposed to only be in his early 20s . .I don't quite buy it with these actors.  The last time Sherlock was depicted as a teen in a major film, Young Sherlock Holmes, it wasn't very well received, despite the many book series featuring an adolescent Sherlock.  I watched YSH just the other night again, and it really was not very good at all.  Some great production design and a fabulous young Sherlock in 19-year-old Nicholas Rowe--really perfect as to physical type.  He had never acted before, but he comported himself well.  Young Watson (Alan Cox) was pretty wooden . . but now I know he is the son of veteran character actor Brian Cox, the paternal features are clear.  That movie had a great 'Moriarty' as well, but the plot just became altogether too outlandish. With a sprightly score by John Williams, a script by Chris Columbus and a 'Hogwartsy' school at the center, the project is a proto-Harry Potter . . which wouldn't be written for another 15 years.  A series was planned, and had the first movie been more successful, Mr. Rowe might have been as big as Daniel Radcliffe.  Alas, not to be.  A 'family film' has to captivate the whole family, and a Sherlock picture is a hard sell.  Adult Sherlockians don't necessarily want to watch their icon as a kid, preferring him fully sprung into adulthood like Venus on the half shell; kids might like a story of a kid detective, but the Victoriana stuff doesn't appeal to many, so both segments of the 'family' audience are bored.  It takes a pretty special child to embrace Sherlock Holmes as a grown-up . . and many of those special children are on this board.  :)

If a DVD is released, I doubt it will take a full year. It used to be that long for a VHS, but it's more like 3-4 months for a DVD.  I'd look for one in December-January.  I don't have Netflix, but I'd give this a go on DVD.  

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2 hours ago, Hikari said:

I was unaware that the Enola Holmes book series had already been turned into a film series.

Sorry, I stated that badly.  We already had a thread about the forthcoming movie series, because it was announced some time back (though the first one hasn't quite been released yet).  So no, as far as I'm aware there isn't any prior film series, just the upcoming one.

2 hours ago, Hikari said:

The novels of Nancy Springer were popular some 10 years ago as well; my library used to carry the series but it has been withdrawn owing to lack of circulation.  It's rather doubtful that this Netflix movie would generate enough interest from our target audience to justify reordering any--especially if this is an original story.

I'd say you might want to reorder the Enola Holmes series -- or at least the first book, and see how that goes.  Judging by the trailer, the movie i based on the first book.

2 hours ago, Hikari said:

The Enola Holmes novels were in our juvenile fiction section for readers up to 5th-6th grade.  This version of Enola seems to be slightly older, based on the way they are dressing her, but I don't think there's going to be huge teen appeal for this. 

The first book opens on Enola's 14th birthday (and Ms. Brown is right about that age herself), but she dresses older as a disguise.  Judging by the trailer, she does the same in the movie.  And frankly, you might be surprised by how many adults read the books.

5 hours ago, Hikari said:

even though Enola says in the trailer 'my brothers' . . the boys are so much older than Enola--in their 30s to her teenage self--and the fact that she's had to take a train to London to see them and they refer to 'your mother', not 'our mother' . .makes me feel like they are not that well acquainted and Enola has grown up separately from them.  Hence, another mother.  Ms. Bonham Carter does not appear old enough to have sons in their 30s and then a 'surprise'? daughter half their age, but this is only my surmise.

I was a bit puzzled about the age thing myself, but I just looked up HBC and she's 57 -- plenty old enough to have two sons (even seven years apart, if they follow canon) in their 30's.  I interpreted the train-station scene to be them visiting her, as in the book (though she didn't go to the station in the book).  Not sure what to make of "your mother," but perhaps they were expressing their irritation at Mother's disappearance by "disowning" her linguistically.  But in the books she did grow up more or less as an only child, being something like 20 years younger than her brothers.

5 hours ago, Hikari said:

It seemed to me in the novels that the age gap between Enola and Sherlock was not so great . . maybe 5 or 6 years, and they did indeed grow up in the same family.

A quick scan of the first few pages turned up a reference to her brothers as "much older."

5 hours ago, Hikari said:

Enola and her mother are living by themselves--no sign of a Mr. Holmes or the boys.  Presumably Mr. Holmes, Sr. is no longer living

Correct.  Mrs. Holmes is a widow, and I think has been for quite some time.  And the boys are grown up, living in London.
 

5 hours ago, Hikari said:

If a DVD is released, I doubt it will take a full year. It used to be that long for a VHS, but it's more like 3-4 months for a DVD.  I'd look for one in December-January.

Don't I wish!  If this were indeed a theatrical release, as I first thought, then you'd be quite right.  But alas, it's to be released only on Netflix, and from what I've seen, they tend to milk their exclusives for about a year before releasing them on DVD.

 

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I was really skeptical about this film, only b/c I love BBC Sherlock so much, it's hard to imagine another Sherlock.  Also, while Henry Cavill is alright, he's not on of my favorite actors.  But the trailer looks promising, so I'll probably give it a shot.

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Variety loves the movie.  I read part of the review, but it mentions too many details for my taste.  So let's just stick with they love it.

 

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This book series has passed me by though I recall hearing about it a few years ago. I think that the main reason I didn’t go for it (apart from buying other stuff of course) was that it was aimed at a younger audience so that might have prejudiced me against it. The series must have been popular though as the books kept coming. What’s the opinion on here? Young Sherlock wasn’t great as Hikari said. I liked the Harry Potter comparison. I have 4 (I think) of the book series but they were that memorable that I can remember little about them. I could have been nasty and said that Nicholas Rowe put in a better performance in Mr Holmes.

Theres not much else to look forward to Holmes-wise apart from a third Downey Jnr movie I believe.

Im planning a sad Saturday of Holmes watching as I haven’t seen anything for months so I’m currently preparing my viewing list. I sound like a character from The Big Bang Theory.😀

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I’m starting to think that I might have gotten this series confused with another one but it’s not important.

Ive just read though that on June 23rd of this year the estate of ACD brought a lawsuit against Nancy Springer and related companies in relation to the last few Holmes stories which aren’t in the public domain yet. Apparently it’s because it was said that Holmes became a bit more ‘emotional’ in the later stories and that they are using this fact to justify the content of the movie. Or something like that. Sounds a bit tenuous to me. The ACD Estate is very protective though (mainly due to the influence of Dame Jean as opposed to his sons who were less scrupulous shall we say. )

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7 hours ago, HerlockSholmes said:

I think that the main reason I didn’t go for it (apart from buying other stuff of course) was that it was aimed at a younger audience so that might have prejudiced me against it.. The series must have been popular though as the books kept coming. What’s the opinion on here?

Well, it's clearly not hardcore "adult" fiction.  But neither is it typical kiddie lit -- it's kind of gritty in places.  I would guess that Ms. Springer has done a fair amount of research on the era -- I'm no historian, but it feels pretty realistic to me, with a lot of Victorian details that I'd never have thought of.  There's also a good bit of wit, so I consider it well-rounded.  I enjoyed the ones I've read so far.

7 hours ago, HerlockSholmes said:

Ive just read though that on June 23rd of this year the estate of ACD brought a lawsuit against Nancy Springer and related companies in relation to the last few Holmes stories which aren’t in the public domain yet. Apparently it’s because it was said that Holmes became a bit more ‘emotional’ in the later stories and that they are using this fact to justify the content of the movie. Or something like that. Sounds a bit tenuous to me. The ACD Estate is very protective though....

Maybe it's their last hurrah.  They've got -- what? another couple of years? -- till the final US copyrights run out.  Wonder what they'll do for fun after that.  :P

 

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7 hours ago, Carol the Dabbler said:

Well, it's clearly not hardcore "adult" fiction.  But neither is it typical kiddie lit -- it's kind of gritty in places.  I would guess that Ms. Springer has done a fair amount of research on the era -- I'm no historian, but it feels pretty realistic to me, with a lot of Victorian details that I'd never have thought of.  There's also a good bit of wit, so I consider it well-rounded.  I enjoyed the ones I've read so far.

Maybe it's their last hurrah.  They've got -- what? another couple of years? -- till the final US copyrights run out.  Wonder what they'll do for fun after that.  :P

 

Cheers Carol, never judge a book by its cover (or its target audience) The first book in the series is now back on the ‘to get’ list. I should have learned my lesson after the Michael Kurland books which had Moriarty as a criminal hero (only committing crimes to fund his scientific research and without killing people) and Holmes as the black and white, crime is crime detective. They even work together. I didn’t like the idea but bought the first book and absolutely loved it. I very quickly bough the others in the series. Highly recommended if you get the chance. I’m pretty sure Hikari has read them and she’s a much better book critic than me.

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10 hours ago, HerlockSholmes said:

The first book in the series is now back on the ‘to get’ list.

You may or may not like it, of course.  It's largely a matter of personal preference.  I enjoy a fair amount of so-called juvenile fiction, such as Alice in Wonderland and Harry Potter.

 

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On 9/11/2020 at 8:20 AM, HerlockSholmes said:

Cheers Carol, never judge a book by its cover (or its target audience) The first book in the series is now back on the ‘to get’ list. I should have learned my lesson after the Michael Kurland books which had Moriarty as a criminal hero (only committing crimes to fund his scientific research and without killing people) and Holmes as the black and white, crime is crime detective. They even work together. I didn’t like the idea but bought the first book and absolutely loved it. I very quickly bough the others in the series. Highly recommended if you get the chance. I’m pretty sure Hikari has read them and she’s a much better book critic than me.

View Halloa, Book Critic here . .:)

According to Amazon, there were six books total in the Enola Holmes series, the last of which was brought out in paperback in late 2011.  Looks like the first installment was reissued in paperback in 2018, which was the first time the rumor of this project surfaced on this board.  Millie Bobby Brown seems to have been attached back then, when she was 13.  She's 16 now, would have been a year older than the 14-year-old Enola during filming.  I wonder if it was her commitment to Stranger Things which delayed production and release of this announced project for nearly 3 years.  I don't suppose Corona helped any, either.  It was probably in the can before this year started, but 'Rona may have hindered the publicity campaign and planned release date and certainly has thrown a wrench in any press tours.

The synopsis of the first book goes like this:   Enola was a late-life baby, causing something of a scandal in society. Her rather vague mother is a 64-year-old widow who disappears on Enolas 14th birthday. It takes the girl a short time to realize that her mother left her some ciphers that indicate why she went away and how she is faring. The teen reluctantly enlists the services of her adult brothers, who quickly determine that Lady Holmes has been padding the household accounts for years. When they decide that their sister belongs at a boarding school, Enola escapes and heads for London dressed as a widow. There she is able to solve a mystery involving the disappearance of young Viscount Tewksbury. She decides to stay in the city, adopting a number of disguises, and become a Perditorian, or finder of lost things or people. Springer focuses a great deal on the restrictions placed on Victorian females by showing how unusual Enolas bravery and common sense are, even as she often struggles with conventional reactions. She wants her brothers affection, or indeed anyones, but knows that a socially accepted life will strictly limit her freedom and learning. Enolas loneliness, intelligence, sense of humor, and sheer pluck make her an extremely appealing heroine who hopefully will one day find the affection for which she so desperately longs.

The lovably daffy Ms. Bonham Carter has a proprietary niche in bohemian vagueness, but I bet she didn't exactly love being cast as a character who is supposed to be 64 years old.   She is 10 years younger than that (b. 1966) and looks 10 years younger still.  She is plausible as teenage Enola's mum, but she would have had to have been married at 16 to be the mother of the 37-year-old Henry Cavill.  If Mycroft is 7 years older than Sherlie, it's not too plausible that she would have birthed him at the age of 9.    It's droll that the plot calls for the 14/15 year old girl who isn't even out enough to be out in society to dress as a widow, but I'm sure Millie is game.

Hardcore Holmes traditionalists would probably be bored with this, but it does look like a fun romp for the younger set, especially girls.  I suspect that the role for Sherlock is rather minimal, as this is supposed to be Enola's show.

It doesn't seem that any more Enola adventures will be forthcoming, a decade after Springer ceased publication, but not to miss out on milking some extra profit off a resurgence in interest in this character, all 6 Enola books have been redesigned and reissued as graphic novels, with appealing, manga-style covers.

As for the Michael Kurland Moriarty books . . those are indeed fantastic, if one can see one's way past viewing Prof. Moriarty as a rather one-dimensional super-villain.  Sherlock's chief antagonist is really presented as the hero of his own parallel set of adventures to Holmes's.  He is still amoral, but with a dedicated purpose that seems to him noble--the advancement of scientific discovery rather than the creation of anarchy for kicks and personal gain . . and he is a very droll character.  Kurland envisions the Professor as a fully-fleshed out sort of Bizarro Sherlock-on-the-flip-side--what SH would have become had he turned his supreme intellect to pursuits other than the use of deduction to uphold law and order.  He's got his own 'Boswell', dedicated Irregulars network and even a mouse-colored dressing gown.   It's a very entertaining series, with Sherlock introduced judiciously as the irritating comedy relief.  With Moriarty as the 'hero', Sherlock inhabits the 'Lestrade' role of the hectoring buzzkill, and the decidedly less bright, more pedantic one.   It's really quite funny.

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16 minutes ago, Hikari said:

The lovably daffy Ms. Bonham Carter has a proprietary niche in bohemian vagueness, but I bet she didn't exactly love being cast as a character who is supposed to be 64 years old.   She is 10 years younger than that (b. 1966) and looks 10 years younger still.  She is plausible as teenage Enola's mum, but she would have had to have been married at 16 to be the mother of the 37-year-old Henry Cavill.  If Mycroft is 7 years older than Sherlie, it's not too plausible that she would have birthed him at the age of 9.

You're right, she's 54 (dunno where I got 57), but that's still plausible.  As you say, she could have been married at 16 (which I believe was more common in those days), thus giving birth at 17 to a son who would now be 40 and then another who's now 33.  The book's Mycroft and Sherlock are fairly young adults, so could be even a bit younger than that.  And it's never been unusual for actors to play characters who are younger or older than they are -- I recall reading that in one show, the man playing the adult son was actually a few years older than the man playing his father, but they carried it off very nicely -- an adult's exact age is rarely all that obvious.  So even if Cavill is 37, that doesn't mean he's playing a 37-year-old Sherlock.

28 minutes ago, Hikari said:

It's droll that the plot calls for the 14/15 year old girl who isn't even out enough to be out in society to dress as a widow

It's a disguise -- presumably chosen to allow Enola to cover her too-young face with a veil.

 

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Herlock Sholmes,

I just visited David Marcum's 17-Step blog for the first time in ages; I was curious if I'd find anything there about the upcoming Netflix project.   I didn't; DM's latest entry was dated August 8th.  Going out on a limb, not terribly far, I am prepared to say that Mr. Marcum would most likely not look favorably upon this Enola project, for the simple reason that Enola does not exist in Canon but is the entire invention of Ms. Springer.  DM is open to established characters being interpreted in fresh ways but would take a dim view of major characters being totally invented and stuck in.

Anthony Horowitz's Moriarty, for example, envisions Athelney Jones, one of the lesser Scotland Yarders, as the protagonist in this post-Reichenbach set tale.  This is an amplification of a minor character, not an invention.  

Look what he has to say about Kurland's Moriarty series . . it's positively effusive!  Surprising to me, as I'd have thought he'd say that Mr. Kurland mucks around too much with the established character of Professor Moriarty.

This was cut-n-paste, so I apologize for the black lines:

Professor Moriarty has been featured in several other series of his own. The best, without doubt, are the incredibly clever and well-written books and short stories by Michael Kurland. I discovered these in the late 1970’s when I was a young teenager, just a few years after I’d found Holmes. I bought the paperback of Kurland’s first Moriarty novel, The Infernal Device, and realized that there was a whole world of ways to learn about Holmes in addition to Watson’s viewpoint. This Moriarty wasn’t quite evil – not yet, anyway – and he and his associates were incredibly fascinating. Sadly, there were only five of Kurland’s Moriarty novels published, and four short stories, before the series apparently went on Hiatus in 2014. In the meantime, I’ve consistently pestered Mr. Kurland to write another Moriarty short story for the ongoing series of anthologies that I edit, The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories, so there’s still hope.

Kurland’s Moriarty stories are:

 The Infernal Device (1978)
 Death by Gaslight (1982)
 The Great Game (2001)
 The Empress of India (2006)
 Who Thinks Evil (2014)
 Victorian Villainy (2011 – Short stories, including “The Paradol Paradox”,“Years Ago and in a Different Place”, “Reichenbach”, and “The Picture of Oscar Wilde”)

Mr. Kurland has been a contributor to DM's anthology series as I recall, but he has stayed away from doing a Moriarty story.


 

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42 minutes ago, Hikari said:

DM is open to established characters being interpreted in fresh ways but would take a dim view of major characters being totally invented and stuck in.

Any idea what his attitude is toward the concept of "Sherrinford Holmes"?  He is, after all, something of a fannish deduction, rather than made up out of thin air.

 

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46 minutes ago, Carol the Dabbler said:

Any idea what his attitude is toward the concept of "Sherrinford Holmes"?  He is, after all, something of a fannish deduction, rather than made up out of thin air.

 

Is Sherrinford a fan deduction from the original (Victorian) fandom?  I seem to recall seeing that name, but in reference to a place called Sherrinford.

A lot of what fans have inferred about Sherlock through the centuries, including his ostensible birthday, childhood, early school days, names of his parents & adventures while on Hiatus are fannish deductions.  W.S. Baring Gould certainly made his share, since there is no explicit mention in any of the stories about SH's birth, star sign, or family life, apart from Mycroft, and Big Brother only appears twice.  

Maybe it was owing to a childhood that he wished to forget with extreme poverty and a drunken father that made Sir Arthur so miserly with the details of Sherlock's growing up years.  I think David Marcum has acknowledged the fan theory of 'Sherlock Holmes's other brother' but I don't think he'd subscribe to it himself.  Two extremely brilliant Holmes siblings are enough geniuses for one family.

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1 hour ago, Hikari said:

Is Sherrinford a fan deduction from the original (Victorian) fandom?  I seem to recall seeing that name, but in reference to a place called Sherrinford.

"Sherrinford" the place is from series 3 of BBC Sherlock.  "Sherrinford" the third (or rather, first) Holmes brother comes from a theory devised by a fan of the original Victorian stories, though if you meant was it thought of in Victorian times, I'm not sure.  It's quite possibly from Baring-Gould -- whenever he floruit.

The basic idea was that, since Sherlock Holmes describes his family as "landed gentry" or something of that sort, it would have been the duty of the eldest son to inherit and manage the property, leaving the second son to pursue a professional career and any additional sons to do whatever struck their fancy.  Which of course implies that we're (at least) one Holmes brother short.

1 hour ago, Hikari said:

Maybe it was owing to a childhood that he wished to forget with extreme poverty and a drunken father that made Sir Arthur so miserly with the details of Sherlock's growing up years.

That seem quite plausible -- and quite sad all round.

 

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