Impossible

by Nancy Werlin

Book Overview

A beautifully wrought modern fairy tale from master storyteller and award-winning author Nancy Werlin Inspired by the classic folk ballad "Scarborough Fair," this is a wonderfully riveting novel of suspense, romance, and fantasy. 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...

Customer Reviews

3 impossible tasks to save your life

Lucy Scarborough has a normal teenage life. She gets decent grades in school, participates on the track team, and even gets along great with her adoptive parents, Soledad and Leo. There's only one, small blemish on her otherwise impeccable life. That blemish is her crazy mother Miranda; and in this sense, she really is nuts. Miranda Scarborough came to live with Soledad and Leo while she was scared and pregnant at 17. After having Lucy, Miranda lost her mind and left her child in their care. Most of the time Miranda stays gone, but sometimes she shows up out of nowhere screaming and causing scenes, and always singing her version of "Scarborough Fair." She made Leo, a musician and folk enthusiast, promise to teach Lucy the song and he made good on his word. So Lucy goes about her normal teenage life until her prom night. Her former next door neighbor, and long time hunky friend Zach has recently moved in with her and her parents while on summer break from college. He enjoys watching her prepare for her prom, while feeling overly protective of her when it turns out that Soledad has invited an impromptu guest home for dinner. Padraig is alluring and mesmerizing and yet he feels off somehow. It isn't until after the unspeakable events of prom night that Lucy and Zach realizes just how off Padraig is. Now Lucy is in a race against time. It turns out that the song was more important than she could ever have imagined. Now she must complete the 3 impossible tasks listed in the song in order to save her daughter and herself. A wonderful novel with interesting and vibrant characters, Impossible is a fast read. Going up with the sounds of Simon and Garfunkel made this storyline very appealing to me and once I got into the plot, it just got better. Lucy is a very likable character who really does epitomize a normal teen. Her parents are the kind that most kids drool over, very cool and accepting. Zach plays the typical "hunky guy next door that has been ignored as a potential boyfriend" but he wears it well. And Padraig is down right despicable. He is written exactly how I would expect his kind to behave. All-in-all, this was a delightful read.

Are you going to Scarborough Faire?

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

It's impossible not to love this!

Reviewed by Hillary Krajewski (age 15) for Reader Views (9/08) Seventeen-year-old Lucy Scarborough has always been a very level-headed person. But, when she realizes the truth behind her mother's mental illness, she will need the all the help she can get to prevent herself from following a similar path. When Lucy is raped by her date at the school prom, the ancient process begins. Now, Lucy must try to save herself, as well as her daughter, from the problem that all the women in her family have been encountered with. A terrible curse has plagued the all the women in her family for generations. Each woman must attempt to complete the three nearly impossible tasks, listed in the ballad "Scarborough Fair," before her daughter is born. If she is unable to complete the tasks, she will end up in the same position as her mother, insane and with a daughter in foster care. Luckily, Lucy has her foster parents, Soledad and Leo Markowitz, and her friend, Zach, to help her accomplish the tasks. But as the deadline rapidly approaches Lucy becomes increasingly unsure about how the horrible situation that she is in will play out. Will Lucy be able to conquer the evil that is trying to ruin her life, or will she end up like her mother? "Impossible" is a fantastic story written by Nancy Werlin. The story is exciting and suspenseful and so realistic despite the mentions of magic. Although it is a fantasy story, it is still very easy to relate to Lucy's story. It is definitely a very enjoyable book that can be read over and over. Readers will love Lucy's story and sympathize with her, even if they don't normally read fantasy books. Werlin's second novel is an amazing read and is sure to captivate any audience.

Courtesy of Teens Read Too

Nancy Werlin uses a variation of the folksong "Scarborough Fair" as the backdrop for an interesting combination of mystery, fantasy, suspense, and the paranormal. Generations ago an angry elfin knight placed a curse on the young women of the Scarborough clan. Each girl became pregnant as a teen and upon giving birth to a daughter, each girl went insane. The only way to break the curse was to complete three tasks described in the lyrics of the song. Until now it seemed the curse would carry on forever. Lucy Scarborough, now seventeen, has always known her birth mother was Miranda Scarborough, but luck brought her into the lives of Leo and Soledad Markowitz. They have raised her since birth and understand the complications of her life story. Through the years they have been plagued by visits from Miranda. Her insanity has been the cause of many embarrassing situations. Now, as Lucy is approaching her last year in high school, she hopes that she can avoid anymore encounters with her crazy mother and get on with her life. Early in the story, Lucy is preparing for her prom and her date with Gray Spencer. Her adopted parents are nervous about the date since it is one of her first, and they haven't actually met Gray. As the couple is posing for pictures and is about to leave for the evening, the unthinkable happens. Miranda shows up in her baggy T-shirt and flowing skirt, pushing her rusty shopping cart full of bottles and cans. Everyone is shocked when she begins to attack, throwing glass bottles at everyone in the yard. She is finally hauled away by the police, but not before Gray makes a get-away in his new car, leaving Lucy humiliated and dateless. Just when Lucy is ready to give up on him and attend the prom with a long-time childhood friend, Gray returns, apologizes for running off, and begs her to still be his date. She happily accepts, but it proves to be the beginning of yet another horrible experience. As the two are leaving the prom later that evening, Gray takes Lucy aside and forces himself on her. The experience is not only terrible, but also puzzling as Lucy tries to connect the gentle high school boy with the vicious act and the sinister voice she hears during that attack. Weeks after the prom, Lucy discovers she has followed in the footsteps of the Scarborough women and become a pregnant teen. Will her fate be the same? Will she give birth to a daughter, and will she lose her mind? Werlin creates an interesting mix of past and present. Lucy seems one moment to be a typical teen, and the next, the victim of an ancient evil. The turning of each page reveals another fact about the family curse. The lyrics of the song provide the clues necessary to break the curse, but those clues are not crystal clear and require creative solutions from Lucy and her helpful family and friends. Encouraged by hope and love, Lucy fights to change the direction of her life at the same time as she learns to accept the hand fate has de

The Compulsive Reader's Reviews

For generations the Scarborough women have been doomed to live eighteen years in sanity, until the birth of their first and only daughter, and then continue the rest of their lives in madness. Their only hope in avoiding insanity is to solve three tasks laid out for them in the Ballad of Scarborough Fair. None of the women have ever come close to solving them. Until Lucy. Unlike her ancestors, she possesses a loving foster family, and Zach, her childhood friend who has loved her from afar for years. When she finds herself seventeen and pregnant, her unconventional family will band together, with the aid of Lucy's mother's diary pages from before insanity overtook her, and find a way break their curse once and for all--Lucy's future, and those of her mother and unborn daughter, depend upon it. The haunting and mysterious words of the Ballad of Scarborough Fair take on new meaning in Impossible as Lucy, a young, determined, and modern heroine is faced with insurmountable odds. Werlin's prose is wonderfully magnetic; a pervading mix of magic, romance, and apprehension. Suspense is skillfully built throughout the book, and is sure to make readers squirm in excitement. Further knowledge of Lucy's ancestors might have added some appeal and interest to the story, but the lack of information on them does not detract from the story in any way. Werlin proves not only to be a captivating writer in Impossible, but also a uniquely clever and sensitive one as well as this unusual, romantic, and enchanting novel unfolds.