The Belles: A Novel by Lacey N. DunhamPublication Date: September 9, 2025
Pages: 304
Add on: Goodreads
Rating: ★★★
Source: NetGalley
Genre: Fiction / Thrillers / Suspense
Publisher: Atria Books / Simon & Schuster
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.
REVIEW
REVIEW
Lacey N. Dunham’s The Belles plunges you into the shadowy halls of Bellerton College, a 1950s Southern all-girls’ school where privilege comes wrapped in silk gloves and secrets. Deena Williams, haunted by her past, arrives desperate to belong among her wealthy classmates. When she’s handpicked to join the Belles—a select clique notorious for their power and penchant for rule-breaking—she’s swept into a world where belonging demands more than just conformity. Pranks turn cruel. Loyalty is tested. And the cost of acceptance grows more dangerous with each midnight dare.
Dunham’s characters crackle with complexity. Deena’s vulnerability and outsider edge make her impossible to pin down, while the other Belles—Ada May, Prissy, Fred, Sheba, and Nell—each bring their own blend of ambition and menace. The tension between them is electric, veering from sisterly warmth to ruthless betrayal, all against the backdrop of southern gothic grandeur.
Themes of privilege, conformity, and the violence of girlhood pulse through every page. Dunham’s writing is lush and immersive, her atmosphere thick with claustrophobia and dread. She doesn’t flinch from the ugliness beneath the surface, making The Belles as much a dark social critique as it is a psychological thriller.
Strengths? The setting oozes atmosphere, the characters feel sharp and real, and the story doesn’t shy away from the dark side of adolescence. Some readers may find the pacing a little slow, as mood often takes precedence over action, but the psychological depth more than compensates.
Rating: 3 out of 5
For anyone drawn to dark academia, Southern gothic, or stories about young women navigating perilous social terrain, The Belles is a deliciously unsettling ride you won’t soon forget.
