Fans of Sherlock Holmes now have even more mystery to unravel thanks to his little sister. Enola Holmes is Millie Bobby Brown's latest Netflix project, in which she both produces and stars as the titular protagonist. This movie inspired is by The Case Of The Missing Marquess, the first book in a series of novels by Nancy Springer.

Fans of the series will find that the novels are alive in spirit in the movie, and some dialogue is even lifted straight from the page. As with any adaptation of a novel for the screen, however, there are some changes. The changes to Enola Holmes tend to work in the movie's favor, but fans of the movie (or the book) should be prepared for differences in the other medium.

Updated on November 28th, 2022 by Amanda Bruce: The first Enola Holmes movie rocketed back into the Netflix Top 10 with the release of Enola Holmes 2. While the movies are on their way to being a hit series for the streamer, they’re only loosely inspired by a series of novels about the character. Enola Holmes 2 went a different route from the book series completely, creating a story based on the matchgirl strike of the 19th century instead. Movie fans interested in the books will find a very different story to read.

What Netflix Changed From The First Enola Holmes Novel

Enola's Relationship With Her Mother

Helena Bonham Carter as Eudoria Holmes in Enola Holmes on Netflix

Enola's opening voiceover in the movie reveals that she and her mother are very close. Despite her mother's reminder that Enola will "do very well on [her] own," Enola tells the audience that she and her mother were always together. That's not true of the novel.

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Enola, instead, spends most of her time alone. She explores the grounds of the estate and reads more than she partakes in quality time with her mother, who spends most of her days painting. Though Eudoria is mentioned as a suffragette, there's reference to her being involved in a secret society like what's shown in the movie.

Enola's Age

Millie Bobby Brown as Enola Holmes with a bow and arrow

The novel kicks off with Enola celebrating her fourteenth birthday, which makes her two years younger than her Netflix counterpart. This particular change is likely more of a practical one than a creative one.

Brown is already best known for playing Eleven in Stranger Things and has grown up on-screen. It's a bit easier to have her play 16 than 14 now. 16 is also a more believable age for the audience to hear Lestrade describe Enola as a woman "no more than 20." With Enola being aged up, it also allows the same for Tewksbury. He's only 12 in the novel, but the movie makes him at least 16 as well, though his age is never explicitly stated.

Sherlock Works Alone

Sherlock visits Enola in her new school in Enola Holmes.

Detective Lestrade is incredibly affronted on-screen when Enola asserts that she works for Sherlock Holmes. He asserts that, "Sherlock Holmes works alone." In the first movie, he hasn't yet met his associate Dr. John Watson, who would go on to write about their adventures solving mysteries together.

In the book, Holmes and Watson are already a team. Enola even describes to the reader getting John Watson's book so that she can read about her brother, obsessing over it. Once Netflix decided to move forward with a sequel, they did make the decision to bring in Watson, though the second movie only featured him in a cameo appearance during the credits, likely setting him up for the future.

Edith

A closeup of Edith in Enola Holmes

Enola visits Edith because she remembers her address is the one place her mother receives correspondence from; Sherlock visits Edith because he follows a trail of clues involving soot in the fireplace to the same conclusion. Edith, however, does not exist in the book.

There is only an off-hand mention that Sherlock questions Eudoria's associates with the suffragists in London and nothing more is said. Edith's role in a secret group of women seeking to change society never comes up. That's a shame because Edith is easily one of the most fascinating characters in the movie, and the movie sequel does well when it expands Edith's character even more.

Boarding School

Millie Bobby Brown and Henry Cavill in character in Enola Holmes

Mycroft is adamant that Enola must attend a proper school so that she becomes both educated and feminine enough to warrant a suitable husband and not embarrass him. In the movie, she makes it to the school; in the book, she does not.

RELATED: 5 Ways Enola Holmes Is Similar To Sherlock (& 5 It's Like Robert Downey Jr's Sherlock Holmes)

Mycroft and Sherlock, as a matter of fact, never manage to catch Enola in the novel. When she leaves home, she takes on a new identity in London, always wearing a disguise, and manages to slip away before anyone ever realizes who she is.

What Netflix Kept The Same From The First Enola Holmes Novel

Mycroft's Control Issues

Mycroft and Sherlock look at Enola Holmes at the train station in the first Enola Holmes movie for Netflix

While the movie certainly shows more of Mycroft and Sherlock than the first novel does, it sets up the conflict between Enola and Mycroft very well. In the book, Enola's been raised to believe that women are treated unfairly thanks to laws that mean every penny they earn goes to their husbands and that estates pass to sons, not wives. She doesn't appreciate her big brother, whom she's never spent any time with, belittling her and trying to control her future.

The same is true of the movie. Sam Claflin's portrayal of the character makes him a villain for Enola to evade. He wants to make sure that she can't embarrass the family any further, and puts her in finishing school so she can learn to be a proper lady.

The Language Of Flowers

Enola Holmes shopping at the flower market in Enola Holmes

When Eudoria leaves her home on Enola's birthday, she leaves her daughter a gift to be opened at tea time. This largely the same in both movie and book. Enola is gifted with drawing paper, pencils, a cypher, cards with flowers on them, and a book detailing the "language of flowers."

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While Enola does use the meanings of more flowers in the novel than she does in the film, chrysanthemums being a sign of affection and irises indicating messages pop up in both.

Enola's Interest In Sherlock's Work

A collection of newspaper articles about Sherlock Holmes in the Enola Holmes movie

Though Enola and Sherlock don't spend as much time together on the page as they do on the screen, it's clear that Enola is fascinated by the Sherlock Holmes. In the movie, that comes through when she mentions that Sherlock will undoubtedly find her mother, but she's quickly disappointed in how he handles "the case."

The same is true in the novel, though in both instances, she questions him and absorbs his advice without fully realizing it at the time. Enola is keenly observant, just like her brother, and in both instances she wishes she could work with him instead of being forced into Mycroft's care.

Enola And Tewksbury Save Each Other

Enola and Tewksbury reading a paper together in Enola Holmes

One thing the novel and the movie has going for them is that Enola Holmes and Viscount Tewksbury are more capable than the average teenager in Victorian England. They might not both be wise to all the ways of the world, but they are capable of holding their own even when they're terrified.

In the case of the movie, that means Enola coming to Tewksbury's aid when a man attacks him on a train, and Tewksbury coming to her aid to get her out of boarding school. They also fight for one another in a big confrontation, just like in the books. Without really knowing one another, they're able to team up and outwit the men holding them.

Enola's Attitude

Enola smiles at the camera in the Netflix movie Enola Holmes

Millie Bobby Brown brilliantly captures Enola's personality and attitude. The young woman is a keen observer of the world, knows that she's interested in things that others aren't, and always sticks up for herself.

The book and the novel might show Enola's wit, humor, and charm in different ways, but they still come across on both the page and the screen. In the book, it might be in the way she rambles in her narration as she tells a story and gets off track, while in the movie, it might be her making faces at the viewer to illustrate a point. Enola is Enola, no matter the medium.

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