We are delighted to welcome Dhonielle Clayton to celebrate The Belles, a powerful look at the cost of beauty and what we are willing to do for it. 

Camellia Beauregard is a Belle. In Orleans, Belles can control Beauty, and Beauty is a commodity coveted above all else. In Orleans, the people are born gray and only with the help of a Belle and her talents can they transform and be made beautiful. Camellia wants to be the Favorite, in charge of the royal family’s looks, but once there the queen asks her to risk her own life to  help the princess by using Belle powers in unintended ways, With the future of Orleans and its people at stake, Camellia must decide: save herself and her sisters and the way of the Belles, or resuscitate the princess, risk her own life, and change the ways of her world forever. 

Dhonielle Clayton is the co-author of the Tiny Pretty Things series, a former teacher and librarian, COO of the non-profit We Need Diverse Books, and co-founder of Cake Literary, a creative  kitchen whipping up decidedly  diverse literary confections for a wide array of readers.

Dhonielle will be chatting with Sabaa Tahir, author of An Ember in the Ashes and A Torch Against the Night
.