Impossible is the story of Lucy Scarborough, a 17-year-old whose unconventional life has been spent with foster parents due to her unusual and unstable birth mother.  At first, this sounds like it’s just going to be yet another of the many YA books with kids in foster care who manage to overcome challenging histories to triumph over adversity thanks to a foster parent who didn’t give up on them.  You know the type, and although I have a fondness for those types of books when they aren’t too heavy-handed, I figured there wasn’t going to be much new in this book.

It wasn’t until Lucy learned that her life was inexplicably tied to the song Scarborough Fair that I realised this wasn’t your normal foster care story. I was concerned, when I first heard about the song tie-in from the person in my young adult book group that suggested the book, that all it would mean was that I’d spend several days humming Scarborough Fair.  This book goes way beyond just getting a song stuck in your head – it leaves you haunted by it.  Lucy discovers that the women of her family have been cursed by an Elfin Knight, and before she can do anything to prevent it, the curse strikes her, leaving her pregnant thanks to the rape of her possessed prom date.  To break the curse and avoid the madness that the curse bestows upon all the Scarborough women once they have given birth, she must complete the three tasks set out in the song.

There are many versions of Scarborough Fair, which is thought to be derived from the ballad The Elfin Knight, and it dates back as far as 1670.  Like most people, I imagine, I was most familiar with the Simon and Garfunkel version of it, wherein they sing about a lost love.  The version that this book refers to, though similar, has a few notable changes, and the result is a foreboding song that threatens true love as a punishment rather than refers to a fond memory of it.  Where the Simon and Garfunkel version suggests that completing the strange tasks will allow the true loves to be together (”then she’ll be a true love of mine”), Impossible’s version is a threat; unless the three tasks can be completed, she will be forced to be the Elfin Knight’s true love against her will.  (”Else she’ll be a true love of mine.”)  That a single word change can so completely alter the meaning of the song is a totally fascinating look at the power of language and how the evolution of folk songs has led to what is now a fondly benign reminiscence about a past love instead of an ominous tale of forced love.

Impossible does not shy away from this darkness, and is a better book for it.  The man who is the modern day version of the Elfin Knight is positively horrifying, and as soon as Lucy is raped you know that this book isn’t going to be sanitized.  The mythic/fantastical elements of the story are woven into the otherwise modern reality very effectively, and the almost matter-of-fact acceptance of the main characters that the curse is real makes it easier for the reader to go along with what seems like a hard idea to swallow.

If I had any complaints, it would be that the tasks, allegedly near-impossible (hence the title), turned out to be a little too doable, but there wouldn’t be a story if that weren’t the case, so I can live with it.  (And never mind the fact that it seems as if all of Lucy’s problems could be easily solved with a trip to Planned Parenthood, but at least the subject was discussed; it always bothers me when teenagers in books don’t even mention the possibility of abortion.) There are moments when Lucy’s foster parents and childhood friend-turned-sweetheart Zach seem a little too accepting and resourceful in the face of such a bizarre situation, but they are given enough development that it doesn’t seem too much like a deus ex machina.

Although there are times when Impossible seems a little too convenient, overall it is an engrossing, enjoyable read.  It is part romance, part fairy tale, part fantasy, and though the conclusion is somewhat inevitable, the path to reach it is a satisfying one.  The balance of the ancient ballad (curses! magic! madness!) with the modern world (the morning after pill! the internet! duct tape!) is handled deftly, and it is Lucy’s ingenuity, and that of her family, that allow her to complete the tasks that seem, at first, impossible.  It was on many of the Best of 2008 lists, and they are well-deserved accolades.  Nancy Werlin has taken what seems on the surface to be just another predictable young adult novel and has given readers a compelling story of love, fate, and family.