She Walks in Beauty

By Dawn Powell
June 17, 2025

A coming-of-age story of two sisters living in their grandmother’s boarding house in a small Ohio town just before the first world war and the characters who filter in an out of the house and their lives. 

For teenager Linda Shirley, her residence in a family boarding house is a fact to be hidden, ignored, and, eventually, escaped. She aims for a better life and tries desperately to win the approval of the town’s elite, particularly the popular Courtenay Stall, over whom she pines. Her younger sister, Dorrie, is a dreamer who not only tolerates but often delights in the colorful guests of the house, from the reluctantly retired theater troupers to the glamorous young woman of ill-repute, the bed-bound intellectual in the attic to the circus snake charmer who keeps her “babies” in ill-secured boxes under her bed. 

For Dawn Powell, “satire is people as they are; romanticism, people as they would like to be; realism, people as they seem with their insides left out.” She Walks in Beauty is a satire in the most insightful sense, showing the specific clarity and cloudiness of two very different sisters’ worldviews. This Belt Revivals edition includes a new introduction by critic Ilana Masad.

Praise for Dawn Powell: 

"For decades Dawn Powell was always just on the verge of ceasing to be a cult and becoming a major religion." – Gore Vidal

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Dawn Powell (1896–1965) was prolific writer of sixteen novels, scores of short stories, plays, and more. She was born in Mount Gilead, Ohio, and moved into her aunt’s boarding house after running away from her father and abusive stepmother. She left Ohio after graduating college and moved to Manhattan, but she returned to the region of her upbringing in much of her writing. She is known for her social satire that is unflinching and humorous without being malicious. Ernest Hemingway called her his “favorite living writer.” 

ISBN: 9781953368959 | Paperback | 5.5 x 8.5 | $18.00