By Emily M. Danforth
1902, the Brookhants School for Girls. Flo and Clara are obsessed with each other and with Mary MacLane, the author of a scandalous bestselling memoir. The girls establish their own private club and call it the Plain Bad Heroine Society. Their bodies are discovered in a nearby apple orchard, with a copy of Mary's book splayed beside them, the victims of a swarm of stinging, angry yellow jackets. within five years three more people die on the property-- and the Brookhants School for Girls closes its doors forever. The now abandoned and crumbling Brookhants is back in the news when writer Merritt Emmons publishes a breakout book celebrating the queer, feminist history surrounding the "haunted and cursed" Gilded Age institution. Her book inspires a controversial horror film adaptation starring lesbian it girl Harper Harper playing the ill-fated heroine Flo, and former child star Audrey Wells as Clara. But as Brookhants opens its gates once again for filming, soon it's impossible to tell where the curse leaves off and Hollywood begins.
First we must address the fact that I listened to the audiobook. There were several instances of music that I don't think I would have correctly interpreted through text, and so I was grateful to have the narrator doing the heavy lifting for me there. Also, the third-person narration is done in such a way that it feels like one of your friends is telling you the story, the weaving of timelines and plots adding to this. Overall, an immersive and enjoyable listening experience. However, I must tell you that the physical book contains illustrations! So, if you have the time I definitely recommend coming to the library and looking at those even if you also choose to listen to the audiobook. This book is technically classified as horror and combines the cursed film and haunted place tropes. The vibes are indeed spooky and the storytelling is haunting, but I would not describe this as hardcore horror. If you enjoy Sapphic dark academia mixed with corrupted Hollywood vibes, then chances are you'll enjoy this too.
If you like Plain Bad Heroines, you might also like:
By Lee Mandelo
Macmillan Audio, 2021. 13 hours. Fiction.
Lee Mandelo's debut Summer Sons is a sweltering, queer Southern Gothic that crosses Appalachian street racing with academic intrigue, all haunted by a hungry ghost. Andrew and Eddie did everything together, best friends bonded more deeply than brothers, until Eddie left Andrew behind to start his graduate program at Vanderbilt. Six months later, only days before Andrew was to join him in Nashville, Eddie dies of an apparent suicide. He leaves Andrew a horrible inheritance: a roommate he doesn't know, friends he never asked for, and a gruesome phantom that hungers for him. As Andrew searches for the truth of Eddie's death, he uncovers the lies and secrets left behind by the person he trusted most, discovering a family history soaked in blood and death. Whirling between the backstabbing academic world where Eddie spent his days and the circle of hot boys, fast cars, and hard drugs that ruled Eddie's nights, the walls Andrew has built against the world begin to crumble.
Flatiron Books, 2022. 228 pages. Fiction.
Leah is changed. Months earlier, she left for a routine expedition, only this time her submarine sank to the sea floor. When she finally surfaces and returns home, her wife Miri knows that something is wrong. Barely eating and lost in her thoughts, Leah rotates between rooms in their apartment, running the taps morning and night. As Miri searches for answers, desperate to understand what happened below the water, she must face the possibility that the woman she loves is slipping from her grasp. By turns elegiac and furious, wry and heartbreaking, Our Wives Under the Sea is a genre-bending exploration of the depths of love and grief at the heart of a marriage.
KJ
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