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Impossible

 Impossible
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TVTItem
 Impossible
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Impossible
 Impossible
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Impossible
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Impossible is a 2008 novel by Nancy Werlin, the first book of her Scarborough Fair Trilogy.Lucy Scarborough is seventeen years old when she learns that the women in her family have been under a curse for hundreds of years - by their eighteenth birthday, they will have a baby, and then promptly go mad. Unless, that is, they can solve three tasks described in the ballad Scarborough Fair. Lucy's ancestors have all failed at this task, but she is the first who isn't alone as she tries it. With her loving foster parents and childhood friend Zach, Lucy is in a race against time as she struggles to complete the seemingly impossible tasks.A second book, Extraordinary, which was released in 2011, takes place in the same world, but features different characters. It focuses on a girl named Phoebe, who learns that her friend Mallory, and Mallory's brother Ryland, are actually from the faerie realm, and that they are here to collect on an age-old debt.The third book, Unthinkable, was released in 2013. Fenella was the first Scarborough girl to fall under the curse. She rejoiced when it was broken - only to find that she was still trapped and very much alive in the faerie realm. After hundreds of years in captivity, she wants nothing more than the release of death, but she finds that she is unable to die. She makes a deal with the faerie queen to have a chance to break her life curse: she must perform three acts of destruction. What she doesn't expect, however, is that the three acts must be against her own family. There will be dire consequences for all of the Scarborough girls if she fails - but how can she choose to hurt them?
 Impossible
fetched
2023-06-05T12:29:35Z
 Impossible
parsed
2023-06-05T12:29:35Z
 Impossible
isPartOf
DBTropes
 Impossible / int_12dd1d4c
type
Rape as Drama
 Impossible / int_12dd1d4c
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Rape as Drama: If the Scarborough women do not become pregnant on their own terms at the age of 17, this happens to them - Lucy included.
 Impossible / int_12dd1d4c
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 Impossible
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Impossible / int_12dd1d4c
 Impossible / int_17ce80aa
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All There in the Manual
 Impossible / int_17ce80aa
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All There in the Manual: The official site had a list of all of Lucy's ancestors and their history, all the way from Fenella.
 Impossible / int_17ce80aa
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 Impossible / int_17ce80aa
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Impossible / int_17ce80aa
 Impossible / int_19209d54
type
Sibling Rivalry
 Impossible / int_19209d54
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Sibling Rivalry: The faerie queen Kethalia and her older brother Ryland.
 Impossible / int_19209d54
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1.0
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Impossible / int_19209d54
 Impossible / int_22cf536c
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Chekhov's Gun
 Impossible / int_22cf536c
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Chekhov's Gun: Walker's truck in the third book. Originally, Fenella just is very interested in machines and wants to learn to ride it, as well as spend some alone time with Walker. She later uses it to try and kill the dog, Pierre, to solve the second task - and accidentally crashes it into Leo, which does complete the second task.
 Impossible / int_22cf536c
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Impossible / int_22cf536c
 Impossible / int_23f1384a
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Babies Make Everything Better
 Impossible / int_23f1384a
comment
Babies Make Everything Better: In the end of Impossible, Lucy breaks the curse and is free to live her life with her new child, who she names Dawn to represent the new beginning.
 Impossible / int_23f1384a
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Impossible / int_23f1384a
 Impossible / int_3dcc914f
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Took a Level in Kindness
 Impossible / int_3dcc914f
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Took a Level in Kindness: Ryland, by the end of Unthinkable.
 Impossible / int_3dcc914f
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Impossible / int_3dcc914f
 Impossible / int_4548bae
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Teen Pregnancy
 Impossible / int_4548bae
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Teen Pregnancy: All the Scarborough girls, at 17.
 Impossible / int_4548bae
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Impossible / int_4548bae
 Impossible / int_4e7c4536
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Wham Line
 Impossible / int_4e7c4536
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Wham Line: In Unthinkable: "It turns out the two curses are entangled.". What that means is:
 Impossible / int_4e7c4536
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Impossible / int_4e7c4536
 Impossible / int_52a8d3dc
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Pyromaniac
 Impossible / int_52a8d3dc
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Pyromaniac: As Fenella becomes interested in technology, she decides to try and solve the first task, destroying safety, by lighting the house on fire. She's later accused of being a pyromaniac for this.
 Impossible / int_52a8d3dc
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Impossible / int_52a8d3dc
 Impossible / int_71456526
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VictoriousChildhoodFriend
 Impossible / int_71456526
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Victorious Childhood Friend: Lucy ends up marrying Zach.
 Impossible / int_71456526
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Impossible / int_71456526
 Impossible / int_8387bb18
type
Good Girls Avoid Abortion
 Impossible / int_8387bb18
comment
Good Girls Avoid Abortion: Lucy refuses to abort her baby. Given that this is the case with countless generations before Lucy, it's implied that this trope is a part of the curse to ensure it continues on.
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1.0
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 Impossible / int_859ec5d8
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The Fair Folk
 Impossible / int_859ec5d8
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The Fair Folk: There is an entire fae realm that humans are unaware of. The Scarborough curse was created by one of its denizens.
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1.0
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Impossible / int_859ec5d8
 Impossible / int_a30c287
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Good Parents
 Impossible / int_a30c287
comment
Good Parents: Soledad and Leo.
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1.0
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Impossible / int_a30c287
 Impossible / int_a6cda066
type
Rule of Three
 Impossible / int_a6cda066
comment
Rule of Three: Lucy and Fenella each receive three tasks. Fenella also has to tell the faerie queen three times that she accepts the challenge before she can be given the tasks.
 Impossible / int_a6cda066
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Impossible / int_a6cda066
 Impossible / int_aa42306e
type
Totally Radical
 Impossible / int_aa42306e
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Totally Radical: 400-year-old Fenella uses "Too much information!", a phrase Lucy had taught her, at one point.
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Your Days Are Numbered
 Impossible / int_b43dfc8d
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Your Days Are Numbered: Lucy has 9 months - until the birth of her daughter - to break her curse. Fenella is given three months for her life-curse.
 Impossible / int_b43dfc8d
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1.0
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 Impossible / int_b97a2fa7
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Forced Transformation
 Impossible / int_b97a2fa7
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Forced Transformation: Ryland is transformed from a manticore to a housecat. He gets used to it, though.
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 Impossible / int_bd6b86df
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Impossible Task
 Impossible / int_bd6b86df
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Impossible Task: Lucy gets the ones from the song Scarborough Fair. Fenella gets three of her own.
 Impossible / int_bd6b86df
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Impossible / int_bd6b86df
 Impossible / int_c868a42a
type
Freudian Excuse
 Impossible / int_c868a42a
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Freudian Excuse: Padraig is likely half-human, and as an egg was abandoned in a swamp by his mother, who never claimed him as her own and did nothing but mock him as he grew up, along with the other faeries, who called him "The Mud Creature". He initially just wanted companionship.
 Impossible / int_c868a42a
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Impossible / int_c868a42a
 Impossible / int_ce75a983
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Screw Destiny
 Impossible / int_ce75a983
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Screw Destiny: Lucy does not intend to go mad like all her ancestors before her.
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 Impossible / int_d0f0a80d
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One-Word Title
 Impossible / int_d0f0a80d
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One-Word Title: Each of the three books: Impossible, Extraordinary, and Unthinkable
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 Impossible / int_dca70c44
type
Reasonable Authority Figure
 Impossible / int_dca70c44
comment
Reasonable Authority Figure: Kethalia, in Unthinkable. She is genuinely sympathetic to Fenella and offers to give her the ability to freely travel between the human and faerie realm, to make up for what Padraig did to her. She comes up with a way for Fenella to lose her long life after Fenella makes it clear she wants to die and sends Ryland to help her out.
 Impossible / int_dca70c44
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 Impossible / int_f4f3252e
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Law of Inverse Fertility
 Impossible / int_f4f3252e
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Law of Inverse Fertility: All of the Scarborough women end up pregnant at seventeen, whether they want to or not. In the cases of Miranda and Lucy, at the very least, Padraig interferes to ensure it happens. Meanwhile, according to Miranda's journal, Soledad and Leo were planning on adopting because they wanted a child but couldn't conceive. Subverted in Unthinkable, when Fenella explains that she set out to get pregnant by her fiance to try to dissuade Padraig's romantic advances. She succeeds in getting pregnant, though it doesn't work out as she planned.
 Impossible / int_f4f3252e
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 Impossible / int_f64a9cf7
type
Earn Your Happy Ending
 Impossible / int_f64a9cf7
comment
Earn Your Happy Ending: Completing "impossible" tasks definitely qualifies as earning the happy ending.
 Impossible / int_f64a9cf7
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 Impossible / int_ff6ae1f6
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Evil-Detecting Dog
 Impossible / int_ff6ae1f6
comment
Evil-Detecting Dog: Pierre can smell that Ryland is faerie, rather than a normal cat. He also hides when Padraig visits the house on Lucy's prom night.
 Impossible / int_ff6ae1f6
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Impossible

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Impossible
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Impossible Task / int_ddfa7c62
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Inspiration for the Work / int_ddfa7c62
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Lineage Comes from the Father / int_ddfa7c62
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No Immortal Inertia / int_ddfa7c62
 Impossible
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The Mentally Disturbed / int_ddfa7c62
 Impossible
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Young Adult Literature / int_ddfa7c62