Plain Bad Heroines

A Novel

by Emily M. Danforth, Sara Lautman

hardcover, 640 pages

Published Oct. 20, 2020 by William Morrow & Company, William Morrow.

ISBN:: 978-0-06-294285-2

(18 reviews)

Our story begins in 1902, at the Brookhants School for Girls. Flo and Clara, two impressionable students, are obsessed with each other and with a daring young writer named Mary MacLane, the author of a scandalous bestselling memoir. To show their devotion to Mary, the girls establish their own private club and call it the Plain Bad Heroine Society. They meet in secret in a nearby apple orchard, the setting of their wildest happiness and, ultimately, of their macabre deaths. This is where their bodies are later discovered with a copy of Mary’s book splayed beside them, the victims of a swarm of stinging, angry yellow jackets. Less than five years later, the Brookhants School for Girls closes its doors forever—but not before three more people mysteriously die on the property, each in a most troubling way.

Over a century later, the now abandoned and crumbling Brookhants is back in …

Over a century later, the now abandoned and crumbling Brookhants is back in the news when wunderkind writer Merritt Emmons publishes a breakout book celebrating the queer, feminist history surrounding the “haunted and cursed” Gilded Age institution. Her bestselling book inspires a controversial horror film adaptation starring celebrity actor and lesbian it girl Harper Harper playing the ill-fated heroine Flo, opposite B-list actress and former child star Audrey Wells as Clara. But as Brookhants opens its gates once again, and our three modern heroines arrive on set to begin filming, past and present become grimly entangled—or perhaps just grimly exploited—and soon it’s impossible to tell where the curse leaves off and Hollywood begins.

A story within a story within a story and featuring black-and-white period-inspired illustrations, Plain Bad Heroines is a devilishly haunting, modern masterwork of metafiction that manages to combine the ghostly sensibility of Sarah Waters with the dark imagination of Marisha Pessl and the sharp humor and incisive social commentary of Curtis Sittenfeld into one laugh-out-loud funny, spellbinding, and wonderfully luxuriant read.

11 editions

Jaelyn reviewed Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth

Review of 'Plain Bad Heroines' on 'Storygraph'

4 stars

In the 2000s, a film adaptation of a book around these events and the cursed history of the school began filming at the estate. The author, Merrit, forms a bond with lead actors Harper Harper and Audrey as the film gets bogged down with complications. Is the curse dooming the film to failure, or is it the machinations of the rather full-of-himself director intent on adding an extra layer of horror to the production?

I found the concurrent …

The Brookhants School for Girls is haunted by its stories. In 1902, students Flo and Clara are in love with each other, but also with a queer book by Mary MacLane and establish their own society. When they are found dead after being swarmed by wasps, the book lies beside them. Their deaths are followed by others, the book lying nearby, threaded inextricably through their tragedy and the end of the school.
In the 2000s, a film adaptation of a book around these events and the cursed history of the school began filming at the estate. The author, Merrit, forms a bond with lead actors Harper Harper and Audrey as the film gets bogged down with complications. Is the curse dooming the film to failure, or is it the machinations of the rather full-of-himself director intent on adding an extra layer of horror to the production?

I found the concurrent stories between the two time periods interesting but I found it slow going to get into any of the characters. It seemed my favourite, the headmistress and her girlfriend, came in late and could have done with way more early development. I also found the constant references addressing “dear reader” to be distracting rather than thematic. There was a line about the director thinking he is doing something clever and original when it has been done to death (paraphrasing) which at the time I felt could be applied just as much to the author laying things on a bit thick.
But despite some early concerns, I think it plays out well. You’ve got multiple sapphic storylines throughout, albeit none of them with much happiness given it is a horror. After halfway I was able to get into the characters a lot more as they became a lot less unlikable and the tension hit a good sweet spot (hard to feel the tension if you’re not invested in anyone for the first half). It certainly had some good commentary on the manipulation of actors, especially women, in Holywood as well as how trapped by the world queer people are in the 1900s. I just wish each side of the story used its time better given how it kept jumping back and forth.

Final note, I had the UK cover (not the one in the image - the bright yellow and pink one) which really does not convey the tone at all. Not sure who designed that thing, for years it had me making incorrect assumptions about this thing. The gothic US version makes a lot more sense.

Jens reviewed Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth

Review of 'Plain Bad Heroines' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

This book is a love story of three women in the present, and a two more couples around the year 1900.

Unfortunately, this book is marketed as a "horror comedy", and I found it neither scary nor funny.

The "gothic" elements - eerie happenings, unexplained events - are extremely rare.
The humor was lost on me - some parts are mildly funny at most.

Mainly, this is the story of women falling in love with each other (or not). This did not grab me, unfortunately: The characters remained somewhat colorless to me.

The part of the plot set around 1900 was the most interesting to me. Unfortunately, the reason for the curse of the haunted boarding school is explained in the penultimate chapter in the most sudden, "deus ex machina" fashion, which disappointed me.

The part of the plot set today, about the making of a movie about the events from 1902, is dissolved in the final chapter of the book in a most conventional fashion, which was the bland icing on the dry cake for me.

You may enjoy this book if you
- are really interested in how Hollywood movies are made
- enjoy love stories no matter what, but do not like scary books
- want to read a book about a movie based on a book about a book ("metafiction")
- have personal ties to Rhode Island, where most of the book is set
- have heard of [a:Mary MacLane|262465|Mary MacLane|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1277326747p2/262465.jpg], and are interested in exploring her legacy

P.S.: A final aspect that irked me was the half-hearted inclusion of a non-binary character. I love that such a character is there - however, they appear once in a short, meaningless scene. I think there would have been better ways to include this aspect of queerness, of which there is plenty in the book anyway.

P.P.S.: This book contains a lot of footnotes - mostly quirky, sometimes funny, never necessary to understand the plot. I read this as an ebook and it was a pain to change between the actual text and the footnotes in the back — consider this when choosing an edition.

Books That Burn reviewed Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth

Review of 'Plain Bad Heroines' on 'Storygraph'

No rating

Not a style I like.

Erin reviewed Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth

Review of 'Plain Bad Heroines' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

For how long this book is, it was a breeze to read. It’s also slow, but I never really felt bored or bogged down. I enjoyed it even when I didn’t know where it was going.

The scary bits I liked the most were the unsettling ones, like the yellow jacket swarm on the road with the apples, and all the times someone accidentally ate a bug. That might have only been 2 times but it was so awful

Hilo reviewed Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth

Review of 'Plain Bad Heroines' on 'Goodreads'

No rating

Wunderschön, gruselig, very gay.

sarah reviewed Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth

The heroines weren’t bad enough

3 stars

This just didn’t work for me. I can see why it should—I like gothic books, I like haunted books, I like riffing off history to make fiction, I like queer women. And yet!! I blame the arch narrator and her annoying footnotes. (I even like fiction with footnotes! Infinite Jest! Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell!) I might also blame the illustrations? oh well. ymmv

callan reviewed Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth

this was great but I need to go to sleep

4 stars

Planet lady love

ScottSchlueter reviewed Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth

Review of 'Plain Bad Heroines' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I received a Reader Copy from Goodreads and William Morrow and offer an honest review.

A delightfully decadent sapphic horror story, spinning multiple tales within tales and weaving the gothic and modern not flawlessly, but very enjoyably.

kevinpotts reviewed Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth

Review of 'Plain Bad Heroines' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

If you’re looking for gothic horror without shock or gore, and with more than a dash of sapphic dazzle, this is truly excellent. Very modern, very smart, very feminist. Took a few chapters to get going, but once it did, the story rolled really well. Recommended.