The Belles

When I discovered The Belles was a book about magic and beauty,  I thought it was gonna be vampires. I was seriously waiting for vampires to show up or for some of the beautiful Belles to need some blood.

Instead, this is a twisted fairy tale. The people of New Orleans are born gray and ugly,  and without the Belles, they have no chance of beauty. Camellia and her sister Belles work for the royal family and at special teahouses, where they perform magical and skilled beauty magic on rich women and men. The most talented Belle will be the queen’s own, beautifying the royal family and setting beauty trends throughout the land. Naturally, this is a coveted position, and only one Belle can have it, leading to harsh competition among the sister Belles. There is also an evil princess, who is half a dark fairy-tale villain and half a realistic back-stabbing colleague, with sycophants and spies around the office, er, palace, reporting back and twisting stories. With palace intrigue, sisterhood, and magic, this is an engaging fairytale.

This twisty and dark fairy story is also a scathing review of beauty standards. The natural grey state is ugly, everyone agrees, but the Belles can perform beauty treatments on wealthy and connected people. Poorer people can buy cosmetics to fake it. The entire economy seems to run on beauty treatments, and hiding the natural greyness is everyone’s priority. Just existing in one’s own body is ugly and off-putting.