Bright Young Women

The novel begins sometime in May 2021 in New Jersey. A woman named Pamela receives a letter dated February 12, 2021. The content of the letter isn’t revealed, but it distresses Pamela, and she’s frustrated that she didn’t receive it sooner: “The women who should be the first to know were always the last” (2). After reading the letter, Pamela decides to go to Tallahassee, Florida.

The novel flashes back to 1978; Pamela is a young woman, living in a sorority house in Tallahassee, Florida and studying at Florida State University. She’s the sorority president and takes her responsibilities very seriously. It’s a cold and snowy Saturday night; Pamela’s best friend, Denise, is preparing to attend a party, but Pamela is content to stay home: “I was never more content than I was sitting at my pencil-scratched desk on a Saturday night […] feeling like I’d done the job I was elected to do” (7). The text reveals that Denise’s ambitions and hopes for the future will be cut short by a murderer that very night.

Pamela wakes up in the middle of the night, hungry, and decides to make a snack. Because she’s the sorority president, she has a large single room that is somewhat isolated from the other bedrooms.