Impossible by Nancy Werlin
I loved this truly unusual retelling of the “Scarborough Fair” ballad. Suspenseful, supernatural, romantic.
Lucy Scarborough learns at 17 that all the women of her family have lived under a curse – they go insane at the birth of their child. She is reminded of what may happen to her in the infrequent mad visits by her own mother, who will show up at school or in the neighborhood to stare, throw shoes, or curse.
After she is raped and becomes pregnant, Lucy that there is a sinister reason behind this curse. An elfin king has cursed her family in retribution for spurned love. Yet, if Lucy can perform three impossible tasks, listed in the old ballad “Scarborough Fair” that her mother used to sing, she might break free of the spell.
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