A Goodreads user asked Nancy Springer:

Where did you get the idea for Enola Holmes? I think the books are great!

Nancy Springer Danielle, you're not going to believe this answer. My editor was responsible, in an indirect way. I had been working with this editor for years, doing the Camelot books and the Rowan Hood series with him, and I knew he had an uncanny sense for marketing. So I paid attention when he phoned me and told me he wanted something set in deepest, darkest London at the time of Jack the Ripper. I wanted to say, Whaaaat? Jack the Ripper? and I'd never written historical, but I kept my mouth closed and gave the matter some thought. My childhood love of King Arthur had led me to write I AM MORDRED and I AM MORGAN LE FAY. My childhood love of Robin Hood had led me to create Rowan Hood, Robin Hood's daughter. By any chance had there been something set in the late nineteenth century.... Elementary, my dear Watson. Sherlock Holmes. I couldn't give him a daughter; that would have been scandalous, but I created a younger sister for him, named her Enola (a name that had fascinated me for years) and all else followed. Thank you for liking Enola. I'm happy to say my editor liked her too.

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