Lucy is extremely likable and reacts much how I think many people would to such discoveries.

Lucy has a few things on her side, most notably her foster parents who, although a little skeptical, are willing to take any measures to help her complete these tasks, and Zach, the boy who grew up next door to Lucy and now is back from college for the summer and ready to give any assistance Lucy will let him offer. If she can accomplish these seemingly impossible tasks before her daughter is born, she can break the curse and save herself and her daughter from the fate of their ancestors. No Scarborough woman has succeeded though, most recently with Miranda who obviously has fallen mad, and when Lucy finds herself pregnant also, she doesn’t dare not take this curse seriously. If she didn’t complete them, she’ll go mad upon the birth of her daughter and the tasks will fall to the daughter. Generations ago, her ancestor spurned the Elfin Knight’s advances and he set her these three impossible tasks listed in the song (make a seamless shirt without needles, find an acre of land with sea on both sides, and then plow the acre with only a goat horn and plant it with a single piece of corn). Lucy discovers that it’s not just a song, but a song about her family. The only real thing she’s ever gotten from her mother is a song – the popular Scarborough Fair folk tune – which describes a woman cursed to complete three impossible tasks. Since passing her off to Leo and Soledad, Lucy’s mother, Miranda, has been living on the streets, appearing in Lucy’s life every few months or years and then disappearing just as suddenly. Lucy Scarborough is seventeen and has been raised by a charming set of foster parents (Leo and Soledad) since her mother is certifiably crazy and has been since Lucy’s birth. Impossible by Nancy Werlin is just that kind of book and is perhaps more focused than any book I can remember reading on the mental dichotomy such circumstances would create for a person. For me, it’s usually far more interesting to watch how a completely ordinary person deals with magic when it starts happening in their decidedly non-magical life. My favorite kind of fantasy is normally urban fantasy – the kind where magic occurs in the real, normal world. Not quite as good as I wanted it to be, but still worth reading. A gripping storyline, excellent characters, and some unexpected twists.

Impossible book nancy werlin