Lucy has her life lined up. She's getting good grades, has plans for college, runs Cross-Country, has a loyal best friend, and a family that loves her...well, an adopted family. Last but not least, she has a date to the prom: cute, shy Gray Spencer...who may be more than just a prom date. So what's that black cloud hanging over her head about?It's her mom, well, her biological mom. Miranda is a local crazy, and recently she has started showing up at Lucy's school. She's always singing that song, "Are you going to Scarborough Fair?" It's not quite like the famous one, by Simon and Garfunkel...and it's haunting, sometimes torture for Lucy.
She decides to put it out of her mind as much as she can. Especially since Zach will be coming home soon. Zach has been her neighbor, and one of her best friends, since they were very little. He's away at college, but has decided to come back home for the summer. He lived with Lucy's family, Soledad and Leo, for his last year of high school after Zach's parents moved to Arizona. It's been decided that he will stay with them again, and Lucy is looking forward to having him around. She knows that he will listen to her doubts and fears about Miranda without freaking out.
Things seem to be going well, she picks out a prom dress, and the big night arrives. One of her mom's new employees, Padraig Seely, joins them for dinner...which seems odd, but his presence seems strangely fitting once he has arrived. When Gray pulls up to pick her up in a new Mini Cooper, the night seems destined for perfection...until Miranda shows up.
She starts yelling and throwing glass bottles from her cart at them. Miranda elbows Soledad in the face, and keeps at it...the next thing Lucy knows, Gray is in his car driving away, Leo has wrested the shopping cart full of ammo away from Miranda, and the police have been called. How could she do this? How could Miranda ruin everything like this?
We're going to skip ahead a little, so as not to ruin anything...but suffice to say, Lucy is pregnant. Just like her mother Miranda, Lucy is a pregnant teen. Her perfect future seems completely out of her reach, and she's not sure what to do. On top of everything else, Zach has found Miranda's diary from before Lucy was born. There are crazy ideas in it, and Lucy wonders if these are just early signs of Miranda's later madness...but maybe there is some truth. Is it possible that she's a victim of the Scarborough curse?
Suddenly the song has so much more meaning...the three impossible tasks: make a magical shirt without seam or needlework, find an acre of land between the salt water and the sea strand, sow it all over with one grain of corn. Can she possibly find a way to complete the tasks in the few weeks left before the baby is born?
Werlin does a masterful job of weaving fantasy into a realistic setting, and connecting them with folklore and familial ties. This provides an interesting take on the "teen pregnancy" genre, and a really heartwarming tale of how banding together with your family and friends can get you through even the toughest of times.
"'What are you going to say, then?'*Library Link*
'That you're having trouble being the one who takes, instead of the one who gives,' Lucy could feel the shock on her own face. She saw Sarah smile before she went on. 'I understand that. But, Lucy, you have to learn to accept. And you have to learn to accept with - well, with grace, just the same way that you give. You've given plenty to me, in the past, whenever I needed you...So now, you get to receive. From everybody in your life. It's all right. It's more than all right,'" (Werlin pg. 258, 2008).
If you liked this, check out:
Extraodinary by Nancy Werlin
Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr
Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
Werlin, Nancy. (2008). Impossible. New York, NY: Dial Books.
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