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Plain Bad Heroines: The extraordinary new gothic novel and work of LGBT literary fiction

3.5(30)
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About the book

‘Brimming from start to finish with sly humour and gothic mischief’ SARAH WATERS
‘Beguilingly clever, very sexy and seriously frightening’ GUARDIAN
‘Atmospheric, sexy, creepy…totally addictive’ KATE DAVIES, author of In At The Deep End
‘A gloriously over-the-top queer romp’ I PAPER
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‘It’s a terrible story and one way to tell it is this: two girls in love and a fog of wasps cursed the place forever after…’
BROOKHANTS SCHOOL FOR GIRLS: Infamous site of a series of tragic deaths over a hundred years ago. Soon to be the subject of a controversial horror movie about the rumoured ‘Brookhants curse’:
In the early 1900’s, Brookhants students Flo and Clara fell madly in love, brought together by their obsession for a scandalous memoir.
A few months later they were found dead in the woods, after a horrific wasp attack, the book lying next to their intertwined bodies.
Three more grisly deaths followed before the school was forced to close.
Now, the school’s doors are open once more. But as the crew of glamorous young actresses assemble to start filming, past and present begin to blur. And soon it’s impossible to tell quite where the curse ends and Hollywood begins…
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‘Buzzing with wickedness…sly, wry and dangerous to know’ Rosie Garland
‘Ingenious, jaw-dropping…a queer roar and it's terrifying and it's a goddamned triumph’ Paul Tremblay, author of A Head Full of Ghosts and The Cabin at the End of the World
‘Wears its brilliance lightly…it's dark, sweet, and addictive. Simply one of the best books I've read in the last decade’ Joe Hill, New York Times bestselling author of The Fireman
‘A hot amalgamation of gothic horror and Hollywood satire, it’s draped with depth but bursting with life’ Washington Post
‘A deviously delicious cake’O, THE OPRAH MAGAZINE

Editions (5)

ISBN9780008346928
PublisherThe Borough Press
Publication Date03/04/21
Pages640

Reviews & Ratings

30 ratings

11 reviews

3.5

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  • soppie
    soppie

    4 Followers

    5.0

    Liebs <3

    War total begeistert beim Lesen, brauchte etwas, um am anfang reinzukommen, aber die Geschichte, Charaktere und die mystische, verfluchte Stimmung von Brookhants hat mich ziemlich gefesselt. Überlege mir eine Yellowjacket als tattoo stechen zu lassen.

    May 18, 2025

  • 4.0

    Weird, clever, and dripping with atmosphere. Sapphic gothic vibes, a cursed orchard, a narrator who feels like they’re whispering secrets in your ear — and the illustrations! I adored them

    4⭐️ — I really enjoyed this book! It’s weird, clever, and completely dripping with atmosphere. The dual timelines (Brookhants School in 1902 and the modern-day film crew) were so fun to jump between, and the narrator’s little asides made it feel like they were telling me a ghost story directly. The sapphic vibes? Perfect. The gothic orchard setting? Creepy and gorgeous. And the illustrations? I loved them — they made the whole thing feel even more like an old, cursed book you’d find in a dusty library. That said, it wasn’t quite a 5⭐️ for me. The middle got a bit too slow and meandering, and sometimes I had to push myself to keep going. But even then, the writing was so lush and the tone so unique that I never wanted to put it down completely

    Weird, clever, and dripping with atmosphere. Sapphic gothic vibes, a cursed orchard, a narrator who feels like they’re whispering secrets in your ear — and the illustrations! I adored them

    Aug 13, 2025

  • maresopeso
    maresopeso

    11 Followers

    3.5

    Spannend aber langwierig

    Der Plot ist ganz fantastisch und diese Art von Horror/ Mystik entspricht genau meinem Geschmack. Jedoch sind manche Sequenzen einfach vieeeel zu weit ausgeholt und mMn unnötig in die Länge gezogen. Viele mögen sowas aber auch deshalb: wer Horror, Absurdität und lange Geschichten mag, gerne lesen.

    Nov 24, 2024

3 of 11 reviews

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