REVIEW: The Adventures of Mary Darling by Pat Murphy
, pub. May 6, 2025, pp
Mary Darling is not the prim & proper young mother society and her neighbors thing she is. Mary Darling, for instance, belongs to a weekly “exercise” session for “umbrellas” (read: sabers) with other women like her.
When she and her husband, George, who fecklessly left their giant protective dog Nanna tied outside while they went to visit the neighbors, something unexpected happened. When they returned to the nursery, the children were gone. And the window was open.
Mary instantly knew what was happening. Calmly, she began to make plans. George, who as previously mentioned, went into feckless, helpless mode. If you haven’t guessed already, George is the comic relief.
But back to Mary. She calls her uncle who, unbeknownst to only but the closest of her friends, is John Watson. Who puts her in touch with, of course, Sherlock Holmes. Mary needs a pirate disguise, some more daggers, already has her little box saved from her own childhood of “Neverland survival equipment” such as fishhooks and the like, and a berth on a pirate ship headed in the vague direction of where Neverland “wanders” (because as we all know, it is hard to find).
Mary Darling is an alumnus of living with Peter Pan. She is not the prim proper Victorian lady: she is one kickass woman.
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