Soh Kam Yung reviewed The Adventures of Mary Darling by Pat Murphy
The story of Peter Pan reimagined from the viewpoint of the children's mother
4 stars
A fascinating historical fantasy that mashes together the characters from Peter Pan and Sherlock Holmes. It retells J. M. Barrie's story of Peter Pan from the perspective of the mother, Mary Darling, and gives a modern interpretation to the tale involving slavery, the denigration of native people, the restricted lives of women in the Victorian era, and the rougher side of actually living in Neverland with a Boy that Never Grows Up.
It starts on the night Peter Pan takes her three children to Neverland, and Mary Darling is determined to go there and get her children back. Mary Darling is the niece of John Watson, so he and his companion Sherlock Holmes gets involved in the investigation into the children's kidnapping (as told to the rest of London).
In the first part of the story, we follow Mary Darling as she prepares for the journey, and Holmes' investigation into …
A fascinating historical fantasy that mashes together the characters from Peter Pan and Sherlock Holmes. It retells J. M. Barrie's story of Peter Pan from the perspective of the mother, Mary Darling, and gives a modern interpretation to the tale involving slavery, the denigration of native people, the restricted lives of women in the Victorian era, and the rougher side of actually living in Neverland with a Boy that Never Grows Up.
It starts on the night Peter Pan takes her three children to Neverland, and Mary Darling is determined to go there and get her children back. Mary Darling is the niece of John Watson, so he and his companion Sherlock Holmes gets involved in the investigation into the children's kidnapping (as told to the rest of London).
In the first part of the story, we follow Mary Darling as she prepares for the journey, and Holmes' investigation into how the children were kidnapped. We learn more about the background of Mary Darling and the people she knows, and see the first 'collisions' between the magical world of Peter Pan and the logical world of Sherlock Holmes.
The second part of the story covers the separate journeys of Mary Darling, and Holmes and Watson, to where Neverland can be found. As it turns out, Mary made her own journey to Neverland with Peter when she was young, so she is not unprepared to face Peter to get her children back. Watson, meanwhile, has brief encounters with fairies and mermaids and is unsure how to explain such phenomenon to Holmes.
The final third part of the story would involve, of course, Captain Hook, who has a bad relationship with Peter (due to his hand) but who also knows Mary. They would all collide over the rescue of Mary's three children. But what could have been a violent encounter is defused by the timely arrival of the dog, Nana, who is also the children's nanny. As for Holmes, he is left wandering in a case where fairies are real can make people fly, but that can never be part of his logical deductions.
A tale with light touches of magic and a re-imagining of well known fictional characters, now told with modern sensibilities.