Plain Bad Heroines
Emily Danforth’s Plain Bad Heroines (2020) is an unsettling read; one replete with ghosts, curses, nightmarish yellow jackets, and plenty of the uncanny. Yet, in addition to the horror—a genre Danforth clearly plays with on multiple levels in PBH—the reader meets the witty, modern narrator, with her references to social media posts and snide humor. Plain Bad Heroines explores the lives and loves of women, both contemporary and early twentieth-century, as they unapologetically make their own ways. Plain Bad Heroines, like Danforth’s first novel, The Miseducation of Cameron Post, is LGBTQ fiction. As the reader progresses through this wildly unique and creative novel, she finds herself navigating many layers of story and meta-story in Plain Bad Heroines.
Danforth takes her title from Mary Maclane’s I Await the Devil’s Coming also known as The Story of Mary Maclane, a confessional memoir published in 1901 by 19-year-old Maclane of Butte, Montana. The book was at once a bestseller and wildly sensational as Maclane openly describes same-sex desire at a time when few dared to do so. Danforth incorporates Maclane’s book into the 1902 storyline set at an all girls school, the Brookhants School for Girls, in rural Rhode Island. The novel opens with this storyline, infused with gothic vibes and horror-laden scenes. The 21st-century voice of the novel’s narrator, however, contrasts this first storyline, and it is not at all surprising when Danforth introduces a second, contemporary set of characters increasingly interwoven with the historical ones.
Plain Bad Heroines involves plenty of metafiction as it is a book about a book about a book in ways that are clever and at times very funny. As the multiple storylines coalesce and the horror film tropes punctuate the novel, I found myself increasingly relying on the tension-breaking humor of Danforth’s narrator. (Horror is not my comfort genre, to say the least.) Yet, Danforth playfully crafts a many layered storyline full of same-sex couples that somehow balances a historical fiction narrative, a horror narrative, and a contemporary LGBTQ drama in ways that both impressed and entertained me. Plain Bad Heroines is certainly original in its voice and storyline.
Danforth’s Montana roots shine through in Plain Bad Heroines even while most of the novel is set between Rhode Island and Hollywood. As a Montana girl myself, I appreciated this minor plot element. I also found myself wondering how much of Plain Bad Heroines grew out of Danforth’s experiences with her first novel’s book-to-film progression. With or without any autobiographical elements that Danforth may or may not incorporate into Plain Bad Heroines, it is a book unlike any I have previously read. Its uniqueness makes it well-worth the read, although readers be warned, never will you look at a yellowjacket in quite the same way again.
Bibliography:
Danforth, Emily. Plain Bad Heroines. William Morrow: 2020.
