A Nice Girl’s Quest for Villainy

Jackie has experienced a lot of rock-bottom moments in her life – her mother abandoning her as a child, her promising academic career being upended by a two-faced classmate, a ten-year drought of new Rhianna albums with no end in sight – but this? Being sued by her ex-boyfriend on her thirty-third birthday for accidentally killing his pet bearded dragon?

This takes the cake.

Luckily, the universe intervenes in the form of a belated birthday gift from her younger brother – an antique quill pen, which Jackie soon discovers is none other than the enchanted quill from folklore that magically grants the wishes of its user. Determined to reinvent herself and her disappointing, lackluster life, Jackie makes a bold request of her newfound pen: to become a heroine of yore and go on a fairytale-worthy quest to slay a dragon – metaphorically, this time.

Soon she finds herself swept away on a chaotic yet cathartic adventure with the most unlikely of companions: her grumpy, rude, and eminently unlikeable former graduate school nemesis, Simon, and his adorable golden retriever. Together, the three of them scramble their way across Europe as they navigate multiple travel mishaps and wardrobe malfunctions, battle a herd of possibly demonic goats, and bond over sex-trolls and the secrets each of them keep close to their hearts, while Jackie discovers that perhaps the key to reclaiming her happiness lies not within the long-lost magic of mythology and folklore, but in herself all along.