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A Novel
by Lacey N. Dunham
In this richly atmospheric, dark academia debut novel, a young woman with a secretive past will risk everything—including her life—to fit in.
Belles never tell…
It's 1951 at the secluded Bellerton College, and Deena Williams is an outsider doing her best to blend in with her wealthy and perfectly groomed peers. Infamous for its strict rules as much as its prestige, attending Bellerton could give Deena the comfortable life she's always dreamed of.
She quickly forms an alliance with the five other freshmen on her floor, and soon they are singled out by the president's wife as the most promising girls of their class, who anoints them: The Belles. They walk the college's halls in menacing unison, matching velvet ribbons in their hair. But no sisterhood comes without secrets, and the Belles are no exception. Playing cruel pranks on their dormitory housemother and embarking on boundary-shattering night games, the Belles test the limits of the campus rules.
But as Deena begins to piece together the sinister history of Bellerton, her own past threatens to come to light, forcing her to make a dangerous choice. A chilling and seductive coming-of-age story, The Belles is an excavation of the dark side of girlhood, the intricacies of privilege, and the unbridled desire to belong at any cost.
"Readers who fell for the unsettling charms of Shirley Jackson's or Daphne du Maurier's stylish, gothic-imbued brand of horror and anyone who loved the cliquish, killer cast of characters in Donna Tartt's The Secret History will be enthralled with Dunham's exemplary debut." —Library Journal (starred review)
"Keeping secrets carries consequences in Dunham's moody 1951-set debut...[and] a macabre discovery on campus in 2002 hint at impending fireworks. Fans of dark academia will find much to savor." —Publishers Weekly
"Debut novelist Dunham juggles gothic elements including a nasty poetry professor, a drunken misery of a housemother, and glimpses of ghosts in the campus trees. Both a time capsule, and a ticking bomb, of womanhood repressed in service of societal conformity." —Kirkus Reviews
"Seductively immersive and brilliantly gothic, The Belles beautifully mines the depths and complexities, the dangers and cruelties, of young womanhood within the confined and explosive space of a 1950's southern all-girls' school. Lacey N. Dunham is a writer not only of compelling story but of rich and unforgettable characters, a creeping, immersive setting, and continually stunning sentences." —Lynn Steger Strong, author of Flight and The Float Test
"Lacey N. Dunham's The Belles is hauntingly seductive - Gothic Suspense at the top of its game! Both atmospheric and compelling, The Belles beckons you in from the first page, takes hold, and doesn't let go until the very last word. Completely engrossing! A beautifully written, tautly-plotted debut sure to captivate readers and leave them breathless." —Sophie Stava, author of Count My Lies
This information about The Belles was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Lacey N. Dunham is the author of The Belles. She has received support from the Elizabeth George Foundation, the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, the Sewanee Writers Conference as a Tennessee Williams scholar, and Catapult as a merit scholar. Her writing has appeared in Ploughshares, The Kenyon Review, and more. She lives in Washington, DC. Find out more at LaceyNDunham.com.
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