A 2014 middle grade novel by Julie Berry.
The Scandalous Sisterhood Of Prickwillow Place takes place in year 1890 and centers upon a group of girls who, though Not Blood Siblings, attend a boarding school together and are incredibly close as if they are sisters. The only problem with their boarding school is the woman who runs it, Mrs. Placket, who although not cruel is not by any standards their ideal headmistress.
When a surprising event happens in Prickwillow Place, the seven girls must bond together to an even greater degree in order to trick several adults who insist on showing up unwelcome, and also they must figure out the truth for themselves, even while they know one of them may be at fault.
The girls are: "Smooth" Kitty (The Ace; known for her coolness, but also her ruthlessness. The Leader of the group), "Disgraceful" Mary Jane (The Gadfly; known for her many scandalous flirtations. The Lancer of the group), "Stout" Alice (Only Sane Man; known for being a good actress and loyal friend), "Pocked" Louise (The Smart Guy; known for her her love of science and talent in medicine, and also her feistiness. Can also be the Butt-Monkey due to being the youngest of the sisters), "Dour" Elinor (The Stoic; known for her fascination with death and her love of dark literature), "Dear" Roberta (The Heart; known for being the nicest of the team), and "Dull" Martha (The Ditz; known for her amazing lack of intelligence)
Tropes:
- The Ace: Smooth Kitty is generally viewed as this by the other girls.
- Adults Are Useless: After their headmistress gets murdered, seven teenage girls have to hide the body and solve the case
- Anti-Hero: You could argue the girls at Prickwillow Place are this. Even though they were only trying to avoid being sent back to their awful homes and being separated from one another, they did hide two bodies and trick many people into believing Mrs. Placket and Mr. Godding were still alive, and they shamelessly buried the bodies in the garden, AND they let an unknown murderer stay on the loose instead of calling the police
- They Really Do Love Each Other: Disgraceful Mary Jane and Pocked Louise bicker and fight pretty much throughout the whole book, but when it comes down to it, they really due love each other like crazy
- Badass Bookworm: Mary Jane and Elinor
- Berserk Button: Louise cannot STAND being called little
- Beware the Nice Ones: The seven girls; they appear like proper Victorian young ladies....and really they are covering up for a murder.
- Beware the Quiet Ones: Dour Elinor
- Big Sister Bully: Subverted since they're not blood siblings, but Mary Jane tends to give Louise a very hard time—although she does love her, of course
- Blatant Lies: Even disguised, there is no possible way Alice could pass for Mrs. Placket, but none the less they have her dress up like their deceased headmistress, and everyone who visits the house falls for it
- Brainless Beauty: Played With. Disgraceful Mary Jane is mentioned to be beautiful, and she's Brilliant, but Lazy; clearly smart enough to help solve the mystery (and she does help on occasion), but she also behaves frivolously to the point that it even endangers the other girls. On the side of it, Pocked Louise, the smartest of the sisters, has no interest in dating, and Dull Martha, the stupidest, is said to be very plain looking
- Brilliant, but Lazy: Disgraceful Mary Jane is very clever and has proven herself to be as capable of solving the mystery as the others, and yet puts in little effort to her educations simply because she can't be bothered
- Butt-Monkey: Oddly, Louise (the smartest) and Martha (the stupidest) are the two who are always given the worst jobs and, in Louise's case, mocked by the other girls
- Character Development: For Dull Martha; who goes to being unrealistically stupid to a dumb, but still lovable character whom you actually want to succeed
- Character Focus: The story is technically about all the girls, but it's pretty noticeable that Kitty is closest to being the main character, and Roberta probably the least important
- Child Prodigy: Pocked Louise is the youngest and smartest of the girls
- Cloudcuckoolander: Louise can be this at times; such as when she randomly adopted a dog and named it after the previous night's murder victim much to the confusion of the other girls.
- Comedic Sociopathy: One could argue the seven girls are this. Sure, they didn't kill anyone themselves, but once it happened, they showed no emotion whatsoever and buried the bodies without even thinking about it
- Creepy Child: Although she's a teenager and not much of a child anymore, Elinor definitely counts
- Louise, as well, although to a lesser extent
- Creepy Good: All seven main characters are on the creepy side, but they're certainly the protagonists
- Darker and Edgier: Things get a lot more intense VERY quickly after Alice is nearly poisoned and the girls start to wonder what they got themselves into
- Deadpan Snarker: Mary Jane
- Dead Person Impersonation: Dressing Alice up as Mrs. Placket—it nearly ends very, very badly
- The Ditz: Dull Martha
- Don't Split Us Up: The girls fear of what will happen after Mrs. Placket is murdered. It's the main reason they hide the body
- Does Not Like Men: All the girls to an extent; but mostly Louise (who has no interest in dating and just likes science), and Mary Jane (who loves having brief, scandalous relationships but appears to have no desire for a serious one)
- Femme Fatale: It's an important part of the story, and it's Downplayed, but Mary Jane has a reputation for being this
- The Gadfly: Mary Jane is this, although mostly just to Louise
- Genius Ditz: Dear Roberta is an idiot in all respects other then law, which she is very well versed in
- The Ghost: Julius, until he shows up at a party the girls go to
- Girly Girl with a Tomboy Streak: Mary Jane enjoys reading romance novels, and hides bodies in her spare time
- Good Is Dumb: Played With; most of the girls, although arguably Anti Heroes, are certainly good people trying to do the right thing, and they're all known for their intelligence. However, Dear Roberta, who is known for being the nicest, is also the second-stupidest after Martha
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: Kitty with Mary Jane. Also, Louise with Elinor
- Hot-Blooded: Smooth Kitty and Pocked Louise.
- In-Series Nickname: The girls call Julius "Darling Julius" because that's how they first heard of him
- Mary Jane calls Kitty "Kit"
- It's All About Me: Ironically, while Kitty is the one who at the end is made out to be selfish one, really it might be better credited to Mary Jane and Louise—who, while they were in the process of trying to hide a murder, decided to flirt with every guy in the room (in Mary Jane's case), and yell at her about it later (in Louise's case). Altogether, though, all seven of them were trying to do the right thing and ultimately put each other ahead of anything else
- Jerkass Realization: Kitty realizes many of her actions throughout the book, while not horrible, were not correct, either, and ended up endangering the people she loves most
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Mary Jane isn't always helpful and tends to give the other girls a hard time, but when it comes down to it she is definitely as loyal as the rest of them and will do whatever it takes to make sure they stay together
- The Lancer: Mary Jane to Kitty's leader.
- The Leader: Smooth Kitty takes the role of the gang's ring leader
- Little Miss Badass: All seven of the girls
- Mad Scientist: Pocked Louise shows traits of this
- Nightmare Fetishist: Elinor loves death, darkness, murder (to an extent), and the like. Louise also applies to this trope, although it's a bit more subtle.
- Not Blood Siblings: The girls at Prickwillow Place act like sisters, and really are for everything that counts, but they have no biological relation
- "Not So Different" Remark: Smooth Kitty despises her father, but realizes at the end they aren't as different as she would like to believe
- Not So Stoic: One of Elinor's signature traits is her lack of emotion,until she snaps; by throwing a pile of books at the floor and screaming "DR. SNELLING!"
- Only Sane Man: Alice is smart, unlike Martha and Roberta, and she's less ruthless than Kitty and Mary Jane, and she's less fascinated with death than Louise and Elinor
- Pint Sized Power House—Louise is the youngest, but the feistiest, girl at Prickwillow Place
- Plucky Girl: Louise, particularly when someone either doubts her intelligence or calls her little
- Police Are Useless: The police do come to investigate after several days, but the girls are able to trick them with very little effort
- The Quiet One: Dour Elinor
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Louise gives one to Mary Jane; it's fairly justified
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Mary Jane is the blue to Kitty's red; Elinor is the blue to Louise's red.
- Skewed Priorities: Played for Laughs; the seven girls watch two people die, and their main concern is where are they going to hide the bodies, and how they're going to stay at school now that their headmistress is dead. Most notable with Louise, where her main concern was why SHE had to be the one to examine the bodies, because apparently she was always given the worst jobs
- The Smart Guy: Pocked Louise is shown to be the smartest because of her knowledge of science, medicine, chemistry, and because she ends up being the one to solve the mystery. But all of seven on them are notably intelligent except for Dear Roberta and Dull Martha
- Smug Snake: Disgraceful Mary Jane, on occasion
- Speak Ill of the Dead: Subverted; the girls find they have a much harder time hating Mrs. Placket and Mr. Godding after the latter two die.
- The Stoic: Dour Elinor; best noted by how she saw two people die and was only mildly interested, with her response being simply "Dead, I imagine". But then at the end of the book she has her Not So Stoic moment.
- Kitty can be this from time to time as well, but it's subverted. She usually shows emotion...just not after witnessing two people get poisoned and having to hide their bodies. But this more due to a (very Downplayed) Lack of Empathy.
- The Team: The seven girls at Prickwillow Place
- The Leader: Smooth Kitty, while not the official leader, takes the role of the leader of the team—she decides what they are going to do and they all tend to listen to her. However, despite her intelligence and good intentions, she ends up getting them into more trouble than she gets them out of.
- The Lancer: Disgraceful Mary Jane is Kitty's best friend and second-in-command, and often the only person to question Kitty's plans or who Kitty will look to for advice on what they're doing. She's also Brilliant, but Lazy to Kitty's The Determinator.
- The Heart: Stout Alice takes this role. While Dear Roberta's known for being the kindest, it's Alice who holds the seven of them together and stops the arguments. She's also more mature and sensible than the others.
- The Smart Guy: Pocked Louise. She's the youngest but smartest of the seven girls; well-versed in chemistry, medicine, and science in general while also being cleverer and more scholarly than the others. She's the one to solve the mystery in the end.
- Token Good Teammate: Dear Roberta's leading trait is her kindness, and it's arguably her only trait. She's the only one who strongly objects to their less than moral plans and is disgusted by most of their actions. However, she's not that bright (except when it comes to law) and isn't as helpful as the others.
- The Load: Dull Martha; she's the character they all try to look after and try to protect, and can double as The Heart sometimes.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Dour Elinor and Pocked Louise are tomboys to Disgraceful Mary Jane's girly girl
- True Companions: The seven girls at Prickwillow Place—it's one of the main things the story centers on
- Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: Inverted due to the seven sisters being True Companions and caring about each other more than anyone or anything, and really only wanting to stay tougher and not be sent back to their awful homes, but this trope is Played for Laughs in the beginning, when they don't care when they're eating dinner and two people drop dead. They stop applying to this trope after things get Darker and Edgier
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: All seven main characters, although it's probably most exaggerated with Kitty
- Wise Beyond Their Years: With the exception of Roberta and Martha, each of the girls apply, but mostly Louise who's the youngest and smartest of them
