Flawless Girls - by Anna-Marie McLemore

Book Synopsis

The Soler sisters are infamous in polite society--brazen, rebellious, and raised by their fashionable grandmother who couldn't care less about which fork goes where. But their grandmother also knows the standards that two Latina young ladies will be held to, so she secures them two coveted places at the Alarie House, a prominent finishing school that turns out first ladies, princesses, and socialites.

Younger sister Isla is back home within a day. She refuses to become one of the eerily sweet Alarie girls in their prim white dresses. Older sister Renata stays. When she returns months later, she's unfailingly pleasant, unnervingly polite, and, Isla discovers, possibly murderous. And the same night she returns home, she vanishes.

As their grandmother uses every connection she has to find Renata, Isla re-enrolls, intent on finding out what happened to her sister. But the Alarie House is as exacting as it is opulent. It won't give up its secrets easily, and neither will a mysterious, conniving girl who's either controlling the house, or carrying out its deadly orders.

Tautly written, tense, and evocative, this is a stunning YA novel by award-winning and critically acclaimed author Anna-Marie McLemore.

Review Quotes

"An exquisitely crafted YA tale about the prescribed bounds of femininity by Anna-Marie McLemore...
Flawless Girls splits storied notions of proper femininity--and gender itself--apart at the seams in an exemplary portrait of learning to express oneself...McLemore's signature prose both cuts like ice and rolls languidly off the tongue." --Shelf Awareness (starred)

"McLemore expertly layers dreamlike descriptions to craft the otherworldly, gothic atmosphere in which this sensitive portrait of an intersex person unfolds." --Publishers Weekly

"As eerie and twisted as a delirium dream, this dark academia from award-winning author McLemore explores the pressures put on women to be perfect and what happens when those pressures become too much. " --Booklist

"A girl thrust into an eerily impeccable finishing school must sort the madness beneath its flawless façade in this exquisitely crafted YA tale about the prescribed boundaries of femininity." --Shelf Awareness

"The use of language is flawless, with rich, lush metaphors and lyrical, ethereal descriptions for terrifying things." -- Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (BCCB)

"Unsettling and packed with sparkly detail, this book is perfect for gothic-literature and period-piece fans who are eager for a much-needed update in representation." --Horn Book

About the Author