The story revolves around Gemma Doyle, a young woman sent from her home in British India to the boarding school, Spence Academy, after the mysterious death of her mother.
Together, they discover the dark past of their school, which closely revolves around a mystical group referred to as The Order.
In the first book, they find out that this group of sorceresses was forced to disband after one of their own, a woman named Sarah Rees-Toome, betrayed them.
Gemma Doyle, Felicity, Ann, Pippa, Mary Dowd, Kartik, Sarah Rees-Toome (Circe) A Great and Terrible Beauty refers to many literary classics.
Among those mentioned are: In July 2006, Sony Pictures and Icon Productions, the film production company run by Mel Gibson, announced that it would adapt the book into a film based on A Great and Terrible Beauty, to be written and directed by Charles Sturridge.