One Must Suffer To Be Beautiful: Review of  Nghi Vo’s The Scarlet Ball

Kate Towner Under Review:The Scarlet Ball. Nghi Vo. Tor Books, October 2026. Nghi Vo’s The Scarlet Ball is about pain. It is about sex, beauty, power, love, cruelty, and sacrifice, and the links that chain these things together. It is about young women suffering in the hope of becoming powerful old women, and about old women paying the overdue price of their power. It is about the men they form toxic bargains with. It is about what you are running towards and what you are escaping from. It is an excellent book. Judith Ban is a half-French half-Vietnamese former courtesan who has run away from Paris to fin de siècle New York. Making a delivery to the elite Howard family brings her into a rarified circle of wealthy women who court demon lords for their power. The Howards promise money and safety if Judith poses as their granddaughter long enough to secure a demon lord. This bargain includes having a white woman’s face literally stitched to her skin. In order to secure this demon lord,…