Monica Recommends - Dispatch #1
Not sure what book to dive into next? Look no further!
Most often described as "a gothic horror-comedy", Plain Bad Heroines exists at the strange intersection between genres, where time is temperamental, rotten in your palm, where the realm of reality is just a stretch away, and yet the stretch pulls like taffy before folding back in on itself again.
Set as a story-within-a-story, this novel tells the tale of two colliding eras: Brookhants School for Girls on rural and secluded Rhode Island in its early days at the turn of the 20th century, and in its abandoned languishing over a century later, as a film crew sets up shop to film a movie whose script is based off of a book by a young writer about the gruesome occurrences at the original Brookhants School.
Nothing is as it seems here. This gothic masterpiece is decidedly a slow-burn, psychologically unsettling horror/drama that plays out across centuries and actors on this strange set alike. Not for the faint of heart, nor for the impatient, this novel is an unlikely tale of queer love and childhood hauntings, uncanny and inescapable.
Still not sure? Check out Bookseller Monica's full review, as well as these carefully curated playlists for your reading and listening pleasure!
"the orangerie" playlist on Spotify
"i await the devil's coming" playlist on Spotify