The Friday Society

Gr 7–9—Three young women make a pact to step out of their circumscribed lives and use their brains and talents to rescue Edwardian London from possible destruction. Cora, Nellie, and Michiko, working for a well-connected inventor, a famous magician, and an inept samurai fight master, respectively, spend their days doing work that furthers their masters' reputations in exchange for food, clothing, and safe housing (although Michiko must endure her employer's mistreatment). As circumstance would have it, their lives collide-literally, on occasion-and they discover that there is a plot afoot to blow up the city. Taking on their alter egos as Hyde, Lady Sparkle, and Silver Heart, they disguise and arm themselves to foil the insidious plan, only to find that it has been engineered by The Fog, a woman who has been repeatedly denied admission into the all-male Society of Heroes. A battle of wits ensues: the trio succeeds, the wicked are punished/destroyed, and the girls form The Friday Society, pledging to rescue women in distress. Intense and fast paced, the plot incorporates murder, mistaken identities, and misunderstandings of characters' intentions. Fans of superheroes and action films will relate to the fantastic powers, miraculous weapons, and just-in-time moves of this Charlie's Angels-like threesome. However, the characterization is rather flat-in the case of The Fog, almost cartoonish-with generally predictable behavior. Also, despite the Edwardian trappings, some of the language is out of place, using modern expressions such as "Hi," "Damn straight I am," and "If you'd like to glam it up a bit…." More television claptrap than well-developed novel, this trio's adventures don't merit one of the coveted places on library shelves.—Nancy Menaldi-Scanlan, formerly at LaSalle Academy, Providence, RI