The Belles tells the story of a fictional world, Orleans, where beauty is held to the highest regard. Everyone in Orleans is born gray and without beauty, and they can only achieve beauty with the help of Belles, girls gifted with the ability to control beauty and transform a person’s physical features. As lavish as the descriptions of the people and setting are, The Belles is a dark, fantasy complete with a gripping plot and unsettling villains. Throughout the book, we see that beauty comes with a price. A physical transformation is painful, but over and over again, characters who covet beauty will grit and bear the pain for it. Unfortunately, this is not an unfamiliar concept to us. The way Clayton contrasts the pain, cruelty, and dark secrets of Orleans with the stunning appearance of the world and its people helps her fully get her point across to readers: no matter how high the price of beauty is, people are willing to pay.