The Personal Librarian

Marie Benedict once again writes an impressive historical novel featuring a relatively unknown woman, recreating the times - the culture, the clothes, the art, the events, the values - and telling the story of the public as well as the private woman.

"The Personal Librarian" is an admirably researched and well-written novel based on the life of Belle de Costa Greene, personal librarian to J.P. Morgan, an American financier and banker who dominated corporate finance on Wall Street throughout the Gilded Age. Belle was the daughter of Richard Greener, the first Black graduate of Harvard and a well-known advocate for racial equality. After the family moves from Washington, D.C. to New York City in 1905, her mother insists the family (including Belle and her several siblings) pass for white in order to have the opportunities, a better education, and the safety that was denied to people of color at that time. As they are all fair and light-complexioned, this appears easy to do, but was actually life-altering. This novel tells the story of Belle's life, her sacrifice of giving up her culture and the fear she has of always being on her guard against anyone discovering her true heritage.

I appreciated that Benedict realized that to write authentically about Belle, she needed to partner with an African American author, and she did so with award-winning Victoria Christopher Murray. With expert proficiency, Murray describes what it would be like for Belle as an African American woman in the years after the Civil War, the Gilded Age, and the years beyond, both in Europe and the United States. The collaboration provides a polished portrait of the professional, confident, and articulate woman, as well as the private person she could never share with anyone.

As well as a story of survival, there is some romance. This would make a great book group read - lots to discuss about this woman, the world she lived in, and the life she created for herself.