Flawless Girls
by Anna-Marie McLemore
High School    Feiwel    288 pp.
5/24    9781250869630    $20.99
e-book ed.  9781250869623    $11.99

In this novel set vaguely during the mid-twentieth century, new-money sisters Renata, almost twenty, and Isla, seventeen, have a reputation for making waves. To solidify a future for them, Abuela pulls strings to get them into the Alarie House, a mysterious finishing school that churns out untouchably sophisticated young ladies. Isla is certain her grandmother and sister also hope that the school will validate Isla’s femininity: she is intersex (though the term is not used in the world of the book). Isla barely lasts a night in the strange house and returns home, but when Renata later comes back uncannily changed after graduation and flees into the night, Isla quickly returns to Alarie House, determined to find out what happened to her sister. What she discovers is more terrifying—and nuanced—than she could have imagined. In between somnambulant nightmares and surprising kisses with an aspiring lapidarist (a gem-cutter), Isla reflects on feminine ideals and her own identity. McLemore’s heavy use of metaphor—is everything jewel-like, or is everything a jewel? It’s hard to tell—creates an unusual tale that drips with twisted glamour. An author’s note explains how McLemore relates to Isla’s character through their own experience of gender identity and Latinidad and argues for larger discussions surrounding differences of sex development. 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.

From the July/August 2024 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.