Plain Bad Heroines

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Set in a cursed New England boarding school for girls, this horror-comedy celebrates storytelling, sapphic love, and the rebellious female spirit. The narrative begins in 1902 at The Brookhants School for Girls, where students Flo and Clara are infatuated with each other and the daring writer Mary MacLane. To express their devotion, they form The Plain Bad Heroine Society, meeting secretly in an apple orchard—a place of both joy and tragedy. Their bodies are later found there, alongside a copy of Mary’s memoir, victims of a swarm of yellow jackets. The school closes five years later, following three more mysterious deaths on the grounds. Over a century later, the abandoned Brookhants gains attention when writer Merritt Emmons publishes a book about its queer, feminist history, leading to a controversial horror film adaptation. The film stars celebrity Harper Harper as Flo and former child star Audrey Wells as Clara. As they arrive to film, the past and present intertwine, blurring the lines between the curse and Hollywood. This metafictional tale, complete with black-and-white illustrations, weaves together the ghostly sensibility of Sarah Waters, the dark imagination of Marisha Pessl, and the sharp humor of Curtis Sittenfeld, creating a spellbinding and humor-filled reading experience.