The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks characters

Appears from the start

A fifteen-year-old sophomore at the elite Alabaster Preparatory Academy. After being overlooked during her first year, Frankie returns from summer noticeably more self-assured and attracts the attention of a senior she has long admired. She is observant, intellectually restless, and increasingly unwilling to accept rules that grant boys freedom, tradition, and influence while asking girls to remain agreeable spectators.

First appears in chapter 2

Frankie's older sister and an Alabaster graduate. Zada has already navigated the school and gives Frankie a family connection to its social world, while also representing a more conventional path through adolescence.

First appears in chapter 2

Frankie's father, an Alabaster alumnus who remembers his school years with affection. He treats Frankie as his clever but harmless younger child, an attitude that helps make her alert to the limits hidden inside praise and protection.

First appears in chapter 3

A confident and attractive Alabaster senior who begins dating Frankie. Matthew is affectionate and socially secure, surrounded by close male friends and inherited school traditions. He enjoys Frankie's intelligence but often assumes she will fit comfortably around the parts of his life he does not explain to her.

Also known as Alpha

First appears in chapter 4

Matthew's charismatic friend and the acknowledged center of his group. Alpha comes from a less privileged background than many Alabaster students and has built influence through confidence and social command. His nickname captures both his leadership and the hierarchy Frankie notices among the boys.

First appears in chapter 3

Frankie's roommate and friend at Alabaster. Trish is more interested in ordinary friendship and school life than in analyzing the institution's hidden structures, and she is one of the people closest to Frankie.

First appears in chapter 6

An Alabaster student within Matthew and Alpha's male circle. Dean participates in the group's private rituals and shared loyalty, giving Frankie another view of how membership creates bonds and status.

First appears in chapter 6

One of the boys associated with Matthew's social group and its traditions. Star contributes to the collective identity Frankie studies, in which individual members gain importance from belonging to an exclusive male network.

First appears in chapter 5

A fellow Alabaster student who has known Frankie longer than Matthew's group has. Porter is perceptive and brings a perspective on Frankie that differs from the admiring but limited view of her new social circle.

First appears in chapter 20

The head of Alabaster, responsible for preserving order and protecting the school from disruption. The administration must respond when a sequence of ambitious pranks exposes tensions inside the institution.