The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks (2008) is E. Lockhart’s fifth novel. Lockhart is the penname used by the writer Emily Jenkins when she writes for a young adult audience. The novel won the Cybils Award for Best Young Adult novel in 2008 and was a National Book Award finalist. It was also a Michael L. Printz Honor Book in recognition of its literary merit. 

The novel follows the titular heroine, Frankie, as she navigates the social dynamics of her elite New England boarding school. During the first half of her sophomore year, she dates a popular older boy, and she begins to recognize the way society demands female helplessness and punishes girls who are capable and smart. When Frankie assumes control of a secret, all-male organization and masterminds a series of pranks that critique the school’s patriarchal values, she faces the consequences of breaking unwritten social rules that establish standards for female behavior.

This guide refers to the Little, Brown and Company 2021 paperback edition.

Content Warning: The source text and this guide discuss sexist attitudes, the objectification of women, and suicide. 

Plot Summary

The novel begins with Frankie’s letter of confession to Headmaster Richmond of the Alabaster Preparatory Academy. She takes responsibility for masterminding the activities carried out by the school’s secret, all-male club that calls itself the Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds. She says that she intended her actions to disrupt the school’s patriarchal establishment, and she encourages board members and the administration to consider the social context of her acts of civil disobedience.

The novel then flashes back to the summer before Frankie’s sophomore year, when she undergoes a physical and mental transformation. Her appearance matures, drawing new attention to her. Just before the school year, she goes on a family vacation. She wants to walk alone into the beach town, but her mother refuses, worried about her safety. The family’s nickname for Frankie is “Bunny Rabbit,” which Frankie believes emphasizes her helplessness. She becomes frustrated by this.

On the second day of her sophomore year at Alabaster Prep, she crashes her bicycle in front of Matthew Livingston, a popular senior, who rushes to her aid. He flirts with her as he helps her. Soon after, Frankie receives a mysterious invitation to a secret party as Matthew’s guest. There is no signature on the note—only a stamp depicting a basset hound. Frankie’s father and his friends—all Alabaster alums—were members of a club at school they called the Bassets, which is a secret, all-male organization. They still enjoy talking about the group. Frankie realizes that Matthew is part of the same club. She attends the party and finds it boring. While she is irritated when Matthew patronizes her, she is also glad he thinks she’s pretty. Afterward, she and Matthew kiss. 

Frankie enrolls in a class in which she learns about the panopticon, a theoretical prison. Its architecture allows a watchman to observe prisoners without their knowledge. This creates a paranoia that drives prisoners to behave obediently, whether they are being watched or not. This metaphor for societal control fascinates Frankie, who begins to see parallels between the panopticon and life at Alabaster, where students—especially girls—are forced to conform to unspoken social rules. Frankie begins observing the dynamics at Alabaster more critically, particularly the ways in which the popular boys like Matthew wield their privilege.

Frankie enjoys being with Matthew and his popular friends until his best friend, Alpha, starts interrupting their dates. Frankie believes he’s competing with her for Matthew’s attention. One day at lunch, Frankie sits by herself at the senior table even though she is a sophomore. Matthew is upset that she has broken a social rule by doing this and is quiet that afternoon. Alpha mocks him for deferring to Frankie rather than telling her off.

One evening, Frankie secretly follows Matthew to a meeting of the Loyal Order of Basset Hounds. She discovers that he and Alpha are the leaders of the group, and the club members enjoy privileges that make them feel confident and secure. They break minor rules, certain of their immunity from major punishment. Frankie eavesdrops as they recite their oath and plan their Halloween prank. 

Alpha’s mother pulls him out of school for a few days, and Frankie creates an email account as “thealphadog.” She masterminds a new prank that she hopes will draw attention to the lack of women in Alabaster’s administration, and she emails the Bassets with instructions for the prank from her new email account, posing as Alpha. On Halloween, the Bassets follow Frankie’s instructions and hang up colorful bras on the portraits and statues of old board members and headmasters around campus. However, students miss the point of the prank. The Bassets see it as a success because of the attention it gets. 

When Alpha returns, he takes credit for the prank, pretending that he knew about it all along. Frankie emails him, and he tries to guess who she is, but she doesn’t reveal her identity. Frankie manages to make copies of the school’s keys and uses them to plan the Order’s next prank. She instructs the Bassets to use the steam tunnels under campus to place basset hound lawn ornaments in the old gym’s windows. This prank is a success for the Bassets, as well, and Alpha once again takes credit.

Frankie plans the Order’s next prank: They will steal Guppy, the school’s beloved fish statue. In a ransom note, she demands the end of mandatory chapel. Then, she instructs the Bassets to deposit Guppy in the dry swimming pool inside the old gym. By placing a symbol of Alabaster in an unusable pool, Frankie means to criticize the school’s obsolete values. She tries to talk to Matthew about this, but he tells her she’s overthinking things.

Frankie ventures into the steam tunnels under the school to ensure the success of a prank. There, she begins to feel lonely, realizing the Bassets don’t care about social criticism or changing the status quo. In fact, they would prefer to maintain it because it affords them their patriarchal privilege. She suddenly realizes someone else is in the tunnels with her, and startled, she bumps into a steam pipe and burns her arm. She accidentally drops the club notebook as she flees; it contains incriminating evidence of the pranks. Alpha is in the tunnels, and the school guards catch him there; he is implicated in the Order’s pranks and promptly expelled. When Matthew tells Frankie about this, she tries to get him to admit his own involvement in the Order’s activities, but he doesn’t. 

Frankie surprises Matthew by admitting she is the pranks’ true mastermind. He reacts with anger and disbelief, and he reports her to the headmaster. Frankie meets with Headmaster Richmond, who asks for her confession. She realizes that she wants to stay on at Alabaster because she understands the advantages of the Alabaster education and connections. Over winter break, Alpha emails Frankie to express grudging admiration for her planning while also saying that he personally dislikes her. He admits he underestimated her and that he took credit for the pranks because she made him look brilliant. Frankie decides not to reply. 

Ultimately, the narrator acknowledges Frankie’s financial and family privilege and expresses a hope that her intelligence will allow her to open doors that remain closed to many women. Sometimes, Frankie wishes she could take it all back and avoid conflict, but she knows she will always be a nonconformist, driven to challenge a society that resists change.