What a story!!! This is historical fiction, and it portrays the story of Belle DeCosta Green, the woman who was the personal librarian for J. P. Morgan. She was responsible for helping him in acquiring and organizing his collection for the Morgan Library in NYC. Of course, a woman in this role was highly unusual at the time, but the real surprise is that she was Black and passed as a white woman! I had never heard of Green before, so her life and story were all new to me. Several people questioned Belle's background, and after looking at her photos, I can see why. But apparently she pulled off passing as white throughout her entire life.
This could have been a phenomenal book. It just needed a better author and editor. Unfortunately, her story is told by people who were knowledgeable and well-researched, but wrote in a manner that was often repetitive and overly dramatic. I usually understand something if I'm told once. Sometimes it's good to hear it again because I'm old and forgetful. But I'm insulted when it's repeated over and over.
I've also discovered that I struggle with historical fiction in general. Detailed conversations between J.P. Morgan and Belle....... did they happen? Maybe? The book references a "longing" they had for one another that they both chose to deny. She was 20-something, and he was in his 50's, fat and married, and (after looking at his photos) unattractive. Hard to imagine. So much of the "fiction" part of a book like this is simply the authors' imagination.
One part of her story that can be documented is her affair with Bernard Berenson, a fellow art-lover who was married and lived in Italy. She wrote him hundreds of letter during their relationship that spanned decades. She destroyed all of her personal papers before she died, but Berenson saved hers. Currently, the Morgan Library is working to transcribe all of her letters and make them available to the public.
There is another book about Green that is more biographical and might be more fact-based. I'd recommend that one instead. - June
