Title: Plain Bad Heroines
Author: emily m. danforth
Illustrator: Sara Lautman
ISBN: 9780062942852
Publisher: William Morrow & Co
Copyright Date: 2020
Genre: Adult crossover, Fiction, Gothic, Historical Fiction, Horror, LGBTQIA+,
Format: Novel
Reading Level/Interest Level: Not available
Awards or Honors:
Alex Award Winner (2021)
Best Book of the Year: The Washington Post, O Magazine, Vulture, Book Riot, Buzzfeed
Top Ten Books of 2021: Over the Rainbow Booklist
Plot Summary
The year is 1902, the location is The Brookhants School for Girls, and lovers Flo and Clara have been found stung to death by yellowjackets with a controversial memoir by Mary MacLane (which is a real book) nearby. Headmistress Libbie Brookhaunts is forced to deal with the aftermath of the girls’ horrific death, as well as the subsequent death of another student while dealing with her own personal life and the eventual closure of the school. Libbie confiscates the memoir, which she begins to realize might be cursed, while she and her partner Alex contend with the ever-encroaching madness that the memoir itself seems to inflict on those who read it.
Flash forward to the present day, where we follow our three queer heroines of the modern age. These unlikely friends are brought together when the story of Flo and Clara’s tragic time at Brookhants becomes a feature film: Merritt is the writer who penned Flo and Clara’s story in a haunting novel, which is the basis for the movie; Aubrey is the former child star who is cast as our lead, Clara; and Harper is the oh-so-cool celesbian (celebrity lesbian) cast as Flo. When filming begins on the real grounds of the Brookhants school, the three heroines start to realize that the curse might be real and their film may not be what they anticipated.
Author Background
emily m. danforth (who does not capitalize her name) is known in the YA world for her first novel, The Miseducation Of Cameron Post, which was made into a film in 2018. Plain Bad Heroines is her second-ever novel and first adult novel. She lives in Rhode Island with her wife and mother and has two adorable dogs (danforth, n.d.).
Critical Evaluation
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and the wild ride it took me on. It was spooky, the writing was excellent, and I loved the way the narrator spoke directly to the reader. I also especially loved how meta it was: a book about girls who love a book, plus another book written about those girls that gets turned into a movie. There’s another meta aspect in there that’s a spoiler, so I’ll leave that one for readers to find out on their own (if you know, you know). There was a lot of incredible setting description and atmosphere building that enhanced the story, and the twists and turns of the plot were really excellent. Though this is an adult novel, I think it would easily appeal to teens, especially LGBTQIA+ identifying teens. The representation in this novel was amazing: every single character in the novel was queer, except maybe one. Teens would also appreciate the illustrations sprinkled throughout the book, which really added an extra oomph to the scary bits. Our main heroines are in their early 20s, but I think it would be easy for teens to place themselves in their shoes as characters to identify with when they get older. The addition of illustrations throughout the novel also struck me as very YA, in the best way. It added a visual element that happened to be very spine-tingling and creepy at the same time.
That being said, this book was LONG. Telling multiple storylines at once is definitely a cause for that, but I felt there was a lot in there that could have been trimmed to move things along a little more quickly. By page 350, we still hadn’t gotten to the main plotline of the heroines going to the film set - this felt like quite a lot of setup. I also wanted there to be more horror aspects to the novel. While there were a lot of spooky things happening in our past storyline at the old-timey Brookhants, there was a lot less when we actually got to the film set.
Creative Use for a Library Program
Cursed films play a large part in this novel, so in keeping with that theme, hold a cursed movie night at the library (The Exorcist, Poltergeist, and The Omen are a few examples mentioned in the novel). No movie screening is complete without snacks, so don’t forget the yellowjacket-shaped cookies!
Speed-Round Book Talk
Lesbians? Check. Curses? Check. Multiple timelines in which you can’t decide which is your favorite? Double-check. Give in and join the Plain Bad Heroines society to find out what the hype is about….if you dare.
Potential Challenge Issues and Defense Preparation
There are no challenges to this book, but, to be honest, there is so much content that I think some parents of teens wouldn’t like. Profanity, sexual references, implied sexual content, and violence abounds. However, this is a work of fiction that is aimed at adults, so the mature content shouldn't be held against it. In defense of this book as appropriate crossover material for teens, I would argue that the library permits teens to choose what they would like to read, a right which is afforded to them by the ALA’s Library Bill of Rights.
Reason for Inclusion
This book is incredibly unique and I can confidently say I’ve never read anything like it. An amazing sapphic, gothic horror novel, teens will definitely love the blending of storylines in this book with a wide range of characters to identify with.
References
Ajmichalka. (2021, April 5). Books read in 2021 [Image]. Tumblr. https://ajmichalka.tumblr.com/post/647647294140858368/books-read-in-2021-3-plain-bad-heroines-by
danforth, e. m. (n.d.a). Bio. emily n. danforth. https://www.emilymdanforth.com/bio
danforth, e. m. (n.d.b) Home [Cover Image]. emily n. danforth. https://www.emilymdanforth.com/
Daphneblakess. (2021, September 8). Books i read in 2021 [Image]. Tumblr. https://daphneblakess.tumblr.com/post/661799815058014208/books-i-read-in-2021-plain-bad-heroines-by-emily
Nakedinashes. (2020, September 17). Books cristina read in 2020 [Image]. Tumblr. https://nakedinashes.tumblr.com/post/629510424002461696/books-cristina-read-in-2020-plain-bad-heroines
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