For Whom the Belle Tolls

Romance novels are a key symbol in the narrative, speaking to The Experience of Religious Trauma and Healing. For most of the narrative, Lily’s romance novels are indicative of her sexual fantasies and longing for love, and she is pleased when Bel expresses an interest in borrowing the books in her Paradise and reading them. Bel’s interest in Lily’s favorites is indicative of his attentiveness and willingness to be intimately knowledgeable about her, which in turn reflects the depth of their romantic connection. The romance novels also function as a meta-textual element, as For Whom the Belle Tolls is a work of romantasy that utilizes some of the tropes and conventions of the romance genre, such as love-at-first-sight. In depicting Lily as a romance reader herself, the narrative playfully draws attention to itself as a similar work.

The novels, however, also have another important connotation: Lily later reveals that romance novels helped her after she endured a sexual assault and faced rejection by her church community in her teens. The romance books helped the mortal Lily learn more about sex and consent, enabling her to combat the sexist teachings of shame and “purity” that had dominated her childhood and youth in her Evangelical community.