The Adventures of Mary Darling

Nebula Award winner Murphy (The Falling Woman) riffs on both Peter Pan and Sherlock Holmes in this delicious romp purported to be written by Jane Darling, granddaughter of the eponymous Mary, as a corrective to J.M. Barrie’s “shameful” misrepresentation of events. When, in 1900, the Darling children vanish from their bedroom, their canine nursemaid, Nana, fetches parents Mary and George from a dinner party. For assistance, George calls in Mary’s uncle John Watson and his employer, the Great Detective Holmes, who takes the case—and eyes Mary as the prime suspect. Meanwhile, secretive Mary, who is aware of the existence of Peter Pan and hostile to Holmes’s intellectual snobbery, broods on how she can rescue her children. Drawing from her own past misadventures, during which she would often masquerade as a boy because Victorian sensibilities decreed too much “brain work” caused women to go insane, she springs into action. Though her husband proves unhelpful, and Holmes attempts to thwart her every move, Mary finds an ally in Sam, a Solomon Islander and former pirate, and together they make their way to a grim Neverland to face down a spoiled and near-feral Peter Pan. Murphy cleverly reworks favorite Victorian stories into something delightfully new. The wit, wisdom, and whimsy on offer here are sure to win fans. (May)