Enid Strange

Enid Strange follows the titular character, Enid, through a stressful and magical week in her life. We open on a page of her book, which she had turned in as a school assignment, about how to observe the faeries that live all around us. Initially, it seems this is part of a flight of fancy, but it quickly becomes clear that faeries are real, and they are messing with Enid’s family which consists of herself and her mother, Margery. Margery, a nurse at a local hospital, the William O. Wistop Memorial Long-Term Care Facility (known locally as the Will O'Wisp for short), is also fully aware of the faeries and is teaching Enid in the ways of dealing with troublesome faeries (which consists mostly of attempting to keep them out of the house through the use of minor spells). Why the faeries seem uniquely focused on the Stranges, and why nobody else seems to be aware of them, is not originally clear; the “are they real or aren’t they” uncertainty surrounding the faeries is aided by their clear preoccupation with a single family, but it is quickly resolved at which point the action begins.

We quickly learn the basics of Enid’s life: she is a child of a single mother, has no friends at school, and is writing a guidebook to teach people how to see faeries. As we don’t have much background on her life, it’s hard to pick up just how strange everything is as the book begins. Enid and her mother are arguing a lot over mis-communications that are obvious to the reader – Margery, for example, tells Enid to follow some written instructions for banishing faeries, but she leaves her only blank pages over which an inevitable argument ensues. Enid takes solace in visiting her elderly neighbour (and only friend, according to Enid), Mrs. Delavecchio, to avoid both time at home and at school. At this point, it becomes very clear that there are otherworldly forces interfering with Enid and her family – the school is suddenly closed due to radiator leaks (even though the building was heated with a forced air furnace, as Enid noted), mimicking a lie Enid had previously told, and, more importantly, Enid finally catches full-on sight of a faerie when, all her life, they had been hiding as movement in her peripheral vision.

It’s at this point that the action really starts to pick up. We find out Enid’s father, a mystery her whole life, is actually Dr. Holden, Margery’s boss and father of Amber, Enid’s schoolyard bully. We also learn that, not only are faeries real, but Margery has magical abilities. The faeries, it turns out, are targeting the Strange family because Margery has used a faerie song to steal magic. This stolen magic is a corrupting force, and a faction of faeries is exploiting Margery’s mental decline to enact a nefarious plan – have her trade Enid for a changeling, after which point the changeling would punish Margery for her theft. Enid, let in on this plan by another faction of faeries (who are staunchly against the changeling plan), formulates a plan to save herself and her mother from the wrath of these dangerous faeries.

Enid Strange is a light, fun read, dealing in supernatural themes without becoming too dark or scary. It would benefit from a bit more scene-setting as starting in media res, as is done in this book, makes it difficult to connect with the characters right from the start. It also leaves the genre of the book unclear for the first few chapters – is this a book about faeries, or a book about a girl who creates an imaginary world where faeries are real? This ambiguity may put off readers who like to know right from the outset the kind of book they are in for. Once the action gets going, however, it is hard not to root for Enid, a clever outsider who is incredibly smart and determined to save the day.

While I won’t spoil the plan or the ending (because it was certainly gripping to see where the story was going, with a number of twists and turns before the final resolution), there was no clear motivation for a lot of the action – why did Margery steal a faerie song? Why are the faeries attacking now if this happened years ago? These questions being unanswered may frustrate more sophisticated readers, but the voice of Enid, who narrates the book, is so strong and engaging that most readers will be happy to look past this missing information. In all, Enid Strange is a quick, engaging read.

As a final note, I want to bring attention to the territorial acknowledgment included as a final page in this book. Not only is it a beautiful acknowledgment of the traditional territory where the publisher is located, its inclusion normalizes and promotes the use of these acknowledgments for children, which is an important part of the reconciliation process in this country.