The Belles

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 Bellerton, a secluded all-women’s college, and Deena Williams is doing her best to blend in with her wealthy and perfectly groomed peers. Notorious for its strict rules as much as its prestige, Bellerton could give Deena the affluent life she’s only 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. She anoints them: The Belles. They walk the college’s halls in 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 beigns 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.

Lacey N. Dunham is the author of The Belles, named a Best Book of the Year by Library Journal and Crime Reads, and the forthcoming Fall of the House of Graystone. A Poets & Writers 2025 Writer to Watch, she has received fellowships from the Elizabeth George Foundation, the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, and Catapult. She lives in Washington, DC, with too many books, but only two cats. Find her at LaceyNDunham.com.