When Honour Huston was five, her father tried to explain the concept of honor to her. Disgusted, she declared she’d rather be Beauty, and has been called Beauty ever since. Now at age 12, she lives with her older sisters, Grace and Hope, and her father, Roderick Huston. Beauty’s mother died less than two years after her birth, followed two weeks later by the death of Beauty’s baby sister, Mercy. Though Beauty and her sisters were equally cute as children, Grace and Hope blossomed into beautiful young women while Beauty became plain. She sees herself as ugly and of limited worth, despite her cleverness. Her father doesn’t see Beauty as “less than,” however. He loves that his daughters have different qualities. Beauty’s sisters are kind and good-hearted. Society, however, doesn’t value cleverness, in Beauty’s opinion. Her governess remarks on her cleverness in an overtly pitying tone. Beauty loves books. She dreams of attending a university and becoming a scholar, something unheard of for a woman.

The Hustons are a wealthy family, thanks to their father’s booming business and his fleet of mercantile ships that visit the world’s major ports. At age 19, Beauty’s older sister Grace is engaged to marry their father’s most promising captain, Robert Tucker.