Belle McElroy

Belle McElroy is both the protagonist and the first-person narrator of Opening Belle. At the beginning of the novel, in 2007, she is a 36-year-old trader for the prestigious Wall Street investment firm Feagin Dixon. While Belle is nothing but successful at her job, she is frequently frustrated with her life due to the stressful nature of her job, compounded by a stressful home life, where she has three kids under the age of seven, plus a husband, Bruce, who is less than helpful in his role as a parent.

Belle undergoes significant changes throughout the novel in her mindset towards sexual politics between men and women employees at Feagin Dixon. Belle is bullied in a childlike way by her male coworkers in the very first scene in the novel, at a company Christmas party. However, when a group of women furtively meet later that same night, desperately...