The Personal Librarian: A GMA Book Club Pick

Although this wasn’t an easy read, it is a riveting account of life in the 30’s and 40’s. Definitely applies to today’s world. The two authors have created an extraordinary work.

This is no in my normal genre for books; but it was part of our bookclub’s summer reading selections. I love history and I love architecture providing a lot of positives about this book eliminating my preconceived notions of boring and mundane. The characters were well developed; even if a little redundant for some of them. I loved the mom’s story (history) which she finally entrusts to her daughter and I enjoyed the fact this book made me look up words I had never used before.

When I first heard of The Personal Librarian, I thought it had to be boring. A book about the personal librarian of J. P. Morgan? How wrong I was! The authors weave the story of a black woman, not only passing for white,but doing so while working for the most powerful businessman in the country, with such skill it grabs your attention and keeps it until the end. Read this book, it is excellent,

EXCELLENT!!! Couldn’t put it down and highly recommend reading!!!!

Another book about the Gilded Age, prejudice at the turn of the century and the brilliance of one woman!

Great book! Easy read. If you read it you must then go to the Morgan Library to see what the author refers to in the book.

A really good book about real people. Fiction but based on real events and real people. I feel bad for people who had to “pass” as white to get ahead. I suppose some still do but it seems many people celebrate their darker skin now. I’m sorry Jim Crow laws were ever legal. Reconstruction after the Civil War should have proceeded as Lincoln planned. People are people regardless of skin color. Race isn’t even a real thing, we all have the same DNA. I may donate the book to my local library since they don’t have a copy.

Until reading this book I did not know about Ms . Greene and her amazing career let alone her being black and passing as white. The authors give good insight into the conundrum that was her life. Learning about the library and the collections she built with J P Morgan plus the intricacies of their relationship was also fascinating. This is a novel well worth reading.

When one eye is closed, we only see part of the world — and most of history has been written with one eye shut. The Personal Librarian opens both eyes, then your entire heart. Through the powerful collaboration of two authors — one Black, one white — this book gives us Belle da Costa Greene’s extraordinary story with clarity, complexity, and grace. It’s a sensory experience: you can feel the velvet, smell the ink, ache with the cost of passing, and marvel at the brilliance it took to shape a legacy while hiding in plain sight.

So I read this book for a book club coming up and cant wait to discuss it. Not my usual genre (psychological thriller, mystery) but once I started it I read every opportunity I got (even in the car - not while driving though). It takes place in the 1900s and loosely based on J.P.Morgan who was very discriminatory against Jews and Blacks.Ironically he has no idea that the personal librarian he hired for his collection of rare art and manuscripts is Black and she is keeping it a secret. The book delves into what she goes through to keep it a secret and how far she works her job and the heights she reached despite the secret. Its the kind of book you wish there was a series to because while it does not leave you hanging, it does warrant a need to follow the rest of her life. So interesting and glad I got to read it.

I loved the perspective acknowledged in this story and the authors' dedication to historical accuracy. Belle de Costa Greene is a woman that e define should know about and her story of resilience.

I’m so glad to have found this book through my Book Club!The Personal Librarian was a collaborative effort by authors Marie Benedict & Victoria Christopher Murray.It starts out a little slow, but by the middle and end I was hooked!JP Morgan of Gilded Age wealth wanted to amass the greatest collection of manuscripts, book, art, & artifacts from around the world for the Pierpont Morgan Library.Enter his Librarian Belle de Costa.Belle becomes a fixture in NY high society and the highest paid woman of her time (!), but it comes at a price.In Post-Reconstruction, the country is still very much at odds with race & segregation. Belle de Costa was born Belle Marion Greener, daughter of Richard Greener, the first Black graduate of Harvard, and well-known advocate for equality.While creating success on her own, she must shield her true identity to keep her job and protect her family who desperately need her salary to survive after the father deserts them.She becomes a force in this male-dominated art world with her calculated style of negotiation and being able to spot a “fake” a mile away.All to build the greatest collection worthy of J P Morgan’s wealth.Next time you are NY, it will give you a new appreciation for the Pierpont Morgan Library ❤️.

I do not often read books of historical fiction. I generally find that the fiction is constrained by the need to to paint a reasonable verisimilitude of the subject's life and the historical part is often misconstrued by the need to create an entertaining portrait. So generally -- poor fiction and inaccurate history. That said, I loved this book! The protagonist of the novel spent an entire career passing for white and the personal and even the psychological difficulties of that are very well and sympathetically described. She seems to have even hidden the fact of her own heritage from her long-term lover, the benighted Bernard Berenson. As I love old books and incunabula, I enjoyed the descriptions of hunting through the European auction houses for desired items. I would love to have met Belle de Costa Greene, although it is clear that even If I had been her contemporary that would not have happened. She was a fascinating although somewhat distant woman, and her life was both complicated and interesting. I also found the book very difficult to put down once I started reading!

This book has had outstanding success. A rich trove of information ( and tension filled story) that seems both on the edge of cultural memory (the gilded age, the focus on acceptance, acquisition of historic manuscripts, the flawed post civil war reconstruction and civil rights, ) and startlingly present (techbro billionaires, conspicuous displays of wealth, the continued gender and racial challenges present in the Western world, the challenges of women's leadership.That said, I feel given the rich material and subject matter that this book was rather lightweight in its treatment. The central character glides into High Society, seemingly never putting a step wrong. While she episodically worries and confronts the cost of her "passing", she seems to engage in one high risk venture after another (largely with great success) without any real issue or consequence. The story of Morgan's library and collection also seems to be glossed over...why was it important to him - was as much his public mask, as way to pass to as landed American aristocracy vs the son of a dry goods wholesaler? And ultimately, what was the legacy of Morgan's collection, did it indeed help advance learning and access, or was it a rich man's plaything.Almost wish this was less a work of fiction and more of in depth scholarship.

I found The Personal Librarian to be both enjoyable and educational, which in my opinion is what historical fiction should be. The book’s protagonist is a most remarkable woman, Belle da Costa Greene. Why was she remarkable? In 1905 at age twenty-six she became the personal librarian of J. P. Morgan for his new Pierpont Morgan Library. Morgan had at the time one of the world’s premier collections of rare books and illustrated manuscripts. Ms. Greene soon became much more than a librarian for Morgan, becoming his agent at auctions in the U.S. and overseas. Her drive, intelligence, determination, and Morgan’s money soon made the collection one of the best in the world. This was at the time when women were rare in the rare book world.But, Belle da Costa Greene was even rarer. She was born Bell Marion Greener to a black father and mother. Her father, Richard Theodore Greener, was the first black student and graduate of Harvard in 1870. Upon her parents’ divorce, her mother chose to pass as a white of Portuguese heritage. Her fair complected sisters could do this easily. For the somewhat darker-skinned Belle this was more of a challenge.Much of the book deals with the social and emotional costs of passing for white, including her relationship with black family members. The events of the book take place against the regression away from racial equality that occurred during this time period, a regression of which I was only vaguely aware.Other interesting aspects of the book were the portrayal of J.P. Morgan, and the intricacies and duplicities of the artworld.An ongoing theme of the book is Greene’s evident romance with art historian Bernard Berenson, who, ironically, was a Lithuanian Jew posing as a Catholic Bostonian.I gave the book four stars, instead of five, as it seemed it could have been more alive and visceral. By all accounts when you were in a room with Belle, you knew she was there. Reading about her, I didn’t get the same feeling. The third person approach used was a little too distant for me, and I think the story would have benefited by a first person narrative.I visited the library many years ago, and didn't then fully appreciate it. A return visit is now in order.

And at what price did she build it?By choosing to heed her mother’s advice, Belle chose to risk identifying as being a white woman in public, during post the Reconstruction era. To any non-black person, Belle’s light skin, anglicized name, and her love of art history played into the elite white psyche. They blindly decided that she is one of their own.During the time capture in this novel (1905 to 1924), and after the Dyer Bill was filibustered in 1877, blacks who tried to have agency were deemed disrespectful, out of their place and only worthy of being lynched. In particular, the filibuster argument was that they needed to be able to lynch the freed blacks to protect their white women from being raped.So, when Belle’s mother insisted that they all change their name, and identify in every way to the public as having a Portuguese heritage, Belle’s fate was chosen for her.And because a daughter’s first mirror is her mother, Belle studied who she needed to be, how she needed to maintain decorum, and how to talk in a way that black women weren’t and aren’t free to talk amongst wealthy businessmen.She studied how to be coquettish, how to think on her feet, and to deflect whenever necessary. Each successful business transaction and interaction became a cause set in motion towards her simultaneously being more visible to society and more at risk for getting caught. The price of which would impact not only her livelihood, but also that of her mother and siblings.It was interesting to “watch” the struggles that she went through over her question of whether she should have followed her mother’s path, or that of her father, which was the antithesis of her mother’s focus. Her father fought for civil rights, because he believed that some day black folks would be judge by their character. Yet, her mom, based upon witnessing every day blacks being lynched to death for their desire to be integrated socially, politically and economically, in her mind, it was only possible to be successful and free if their entire family takes advantage of looking white by choosing to be white.While reading this book, at first, I wanted to side with Belle’s dad, because to me, owning your voice, being your authentic self gives you peace of mind. Identifying as someone who you are not has always meant to me as lying to myself and destroying the chance of align your personality with your soul. I also saw the pressure Belle lived with when her father left the family because he could no longer live in the dichotomy of “Choose to be white to be successful”, or “Choose to be black to own our right to matter” that existed.Of course, my mindset was based upon living in a freeing society that 1877 to 1924 did not know. Also, we have the benefit born out of the Belle’s in our history, to speak up and be heard. Yet, one hundred years later, June 2024, black women, or any person of color, much modulate their approach to success according to societal unspoken rules.Yes. Belle built the J.P. Morgan wealth by choosing to be white, at the price of her own peace of mind. As a white woman, she could name a price of art, negotiate with old cronies, and close the deal as if she just bent her arm. That wouldn’t have happened had she identified as a black woman, back then. The wealth that she amassed for the Piermont Librarian counted upon her ability to not only study art, network with the best in the business, but also study what it meant to be an influential white woman. If she was going to have to abandon her ethnicity for the sake of her immediate family, she was going have to perpetually study being who she needed to be, and who, as a white woman, she would have licensed to be. She wasn’t free to look a black servant in the eye, for fear that they would report her to the public as being one of them. The only way she saw her biological family was through carefully planned trips that were out of the view of the socially elite.Ultimately, she mastered the public persona, though she struggled with the lie she had to continually nourish and preserve.Like “The First Ladies”, this was an excellently written book that truly helped me to be part of U.S. History.One hilarious moment that reading this book in public was: after waiting a bit for my banker to be available, seeing me reading this book in my hand, she asked, “What are you reading?” My enthusiastic response was, “Oh this is a great historical novel about how a black woman 100 years ago made J.P. Morgan’s wealth.”The look on her face was priceless.

Beautifully written book about an incredible black woman of the early 20th century who lived as a white woman in an era of growing racism. This is the type of historical fiction/history book that I love to read. Where the characters are real, the major events actually occurred, but the details of feelings & narratives have to be created where gaps in history exist. The authors wrote a stunningly beautiful story of Belle da Costa Green, personal librarian to the famous JP Morgan, curator & directress of the Pierpont Morgan Library, and more. Even though Belle herself chose (out of necessity) to hide her true identity and heritage (destroying all her personal papers and any reference to being black), the authors' creativity filling in the many gaps in known history, created a character that makes your heart ache for, and a woman that you can admire so much more at her accomplishments because of how she accomplished it while living with this secret identity. It's amazing that any woman of that era could have been so successful, but to learn how she did it as a black woman passing for white is just stunning.

I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Robin Miles (also narrated “Just as I Am” by Cicely Tyson), and enjoyed it. This was the March selection for my book club (AAABDG). An historical account of Belle da Costa Greene.Genevieve, Belles' mother, having to create a Portuguese grandmother to disguise their Black heritage was a covert operation for the entire fate of the family. Teaching was the most common and revered profession for blacks during the time period, Belle’s mother was pro advocate for her becoming a teacher while her father envisioned Belle as a historian or arts scholar. It was her father that laid the groundwork for her career as personal librarian to J.P. Morgan. Belle taught herself Latin, and became very knowledgeable in an exclusively male world of art and rare book dealer.The chapters are short which makes for faster reading. I had moments of elation, sadness, joy, awe and admiration. I asked myself why was Belle a personal librarian and not titled a curator or dealer of antiquities, paintings, manuscripts and artifacts, and did J.P. Morgan feel about Blacks the same way he felt about Jews? The story takes place in 1905-1948 and follows Belle from city to city and country to country.Belle’s father sides with the views of Booker T. Washington, regarding his strategies with business owners and politicians and Willie DuBoise, in his views on his plans for the advancement of NAACP, in which mirrored his stance. The comparison between Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. DuBois. This was also mentioned in “A Pair of Wings” by Carole Hopson, in which blacks were siding with the philosophy of one or the other to determine their path of equality. It is a true and honest fact that many blacks owe their light skin to the sexual violence inflicted on enslaved black women by their white masters, and chose to pass as white as the best option to enhance their lifestyle for better housing, better jobs and pay, and equality. It meant estrangement from their families.I was not particularly pleased with Belle's romance with Berenson (a Lithuanian born Jew) whom harbored secrets of his own, as they were involved in a long term relationship. I was conflicted in whether he was truly in love with Belle or was he using her intellect and insights to gain advantages to his own art dealings.This novel was written during a pandemic, and racial injustice with the murder of George Floyd in 2021 in which the Civil Rights Act in 1883 that ushered in Jim Crow segregation and gave white supremacy and racial discrimination legal cover, the ramifications of which are felt to this day in 2022. There are still few opportunities open to blacks or anyone classified as nonwhite. As of 2022 we are striving to vote the first African American female Judge in the highest court of the land, the Supreme Court, but with much opposition.Overall, I learned a lot about the are world, travel to other countries during this era, especially for blacks, the culture during the Guilded Age Era, many historical places and people. I will value this read as a learning experience and highly recommend this book to bibliophiles, art historians, and history buffs. I look forward to doing more research into Belle da Costa Greene's life by reading some of the recommended material: "Am Illuminated Life: Belle da Costa Greene's Journey from Prejudice to Privilege" by Heidi Ardizzone, and "The White Problem" by Belle's father, Richard Greener.

As a retired librarian, I was drawn to this book when I first began hearing about it. Based on the true story of Belle da Costa Greene who assisted J.P. Morgan in the curation of his extraordinary collection of manuscripts and other priceless art, the story is made even more remarkable by documenting Greene’s early life as a child of Black parents in a period of American history when Reconstruction was being replaced by the ugliness of White Supremacy. The fact that she was able to ascend to the greatest heights in the cutthroat profession of art collecting, at a time when few women and no People of Color were granted entrance makes this a fascinating story. From her birth in 1879 to her death in 1950, we learn of one remarkable woman’s determination to succeed while keeping the details of her background a secret, even from her closest friends. The stress that surrounded her was a constant theme in the narrative. She could never relax, and the reader feels the same anxiety. Her mother had made the decision that passing as white was essential to allow her family to succeed. Even her father, an early Civil Rights advocate, ultimately acknowledged it was the best choice for an untenable situation.Despite telling a well-documented account of the society of robber barons and other figures of the Gilded Age, I felt I had wandered into one of those romances of my teenage years in which a young woman with secrets to keep becomes the governess for the family of a dark and powerful industrial magnate. Told in the first person, the narrator recounts her tragedies and triumphs with all kinds of rhetorical questions and breathless worries. Many of the details felt as though they had been clumsily shoehorned in to the narrative as presented by Miss Greene despite the fact that clothing and art descriptions would have been presented much more naturally by a third person narrator.As an aside, pairing this book with the HBO series The Gilded Age provides many of the cultural elements that deepen the reader’s understanding of the era.This was an interesting book of a little known subject but it could have been much more.

"One day, Belle, we will be able to reach back through the decades and claim you as one of our own."The Personal Librarian tells the story of Belle da Costa Greene who is hired by J.P. Morgan to oversee his personal collection of books, manuscripts and artwork. She is only in her twenties but quickly becomes known for her ruthless and shrewd tactics that earns her world-wide respect among her male peers. But this remarkable woman has a secret that defines all aspect of her life: she is a black woman. A black woman who lives as white. She must hold onto that secret if she wants to keep her job and her family safe.I bought both the kindle and hardcover copies when this was released, but I didn't read it until now. I must say that I became engrossed really quickly in this read. I have read both authors works and I am familiar with their styles but this read presented as a seamless read, so the cohesion between the women is apparent in the writing.As I read, I fell in love with Belle's spunk and her moments of rebellion. I was especially touched by how much fear she lived in, a constant fear of being discovered. That fear encompassed all areas of her life which was sad to see. But to know a woman of color helped to shape such a magnificent public institution, I felt so much pride (thus the quote above). I plan on visiting the library after reading this book. The descriptions provided gave me an image of grandeur and opulence that I must see for myself soon.I definitely recommend this read and look forward to reading more by both of these authors. More like this, please (that's why I read Marie Benedict's historical fiction). More books celebrating our women, especially women of color.Another Memorable Quote:"Let’s focus on what we have in common and not on the differences that have pulled us apart.” When I read this, all I could think was, we have a long way to go for this wish to come true. Belle's father was a part of this movement and here we are decades later, still in the same fight. But, I do remain hopeful.