Good Bad Girl: A Novel

This novel makes ample use of the geography of London—from the houseboat on the Thames to the gallery in Covent Garden. How does the cityscape play a role in the novel? How does Feeney create a sense of place?

The 2023 hardcover edition of Good Bad Girl incorporates small illustrations at the top of each chapter; each illustration corresponds to a character. Select one illustration and discuss what this symbol reveals about the narrator of the chapter.

Patience kills Joy with a statue from Edith’s past. Why is this murder weapon symbolically significant? How does this choice of murder weapon characterize Patience?

Black foxes surface a few times in the novel—most notably at the end, when Frankie is planning on breaking into Clio’s house. What is the role of the black fox in the narrative? What symbolic value does the fox hold?

Clio and Patience both employ constructed identities. Which other characters use constructed identities? To what ends do these characters use them?

Feeney constantly works to upend readers’ expectations about who these characters are and why they act in the ways they do. What techniques does Feeney use to support this misdirection?

Chapter 69 reveals that Patience was Joy’s killer; in the very next chapter, Patience and Clio decide not to tell Frankie this information. How does this impact the tone of the novel’s conclusion? How does it develop the novel’s themes?

Many of the characters in the novel deal with some form of imprisonment, whether it’s Edith in the care home or Liberty and Patience in the literal prison. What commentary does the novel offer on the relationship between imprisonment and these women’s lives? What metaphorical prisons exist for these women?