Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray’s The Personal Librarian is the latest pick for Good Morning America’s book club.
Benedict and Murray’s novel, their first collaboration, follows Belle da Costa Greene, a Black woman who becomes the librarian for legendary financier J.P. Morgan’s Pierpont Morgan Library in Manhattan (now known as the Morgan Library and Museum). Greene is a Black woman passing as White and hopes her background isn’t revealed.
“Belle had to pass as white when she became the powerful personal librarian to J.P. Morgan in the 1900s,” Benedict told the morning show. “She hid her identity in plain sight, saying, ‘Just because I am a librarian, doesn’t mean I have to dress like one.’”
Greene continued her work at the library after J.P. Morgan died, working for his son, Jack. She died in 1950, two years after her retirement.
“She was bold and she was brilliant and she was Black,” Murray said. “If Black girl magic had a name it would be Belle da Costa Greene.”
A reviewer for Kirkus was not so enthusiastic about the novel, finding it “strangely stuffy and muted.”
The Personal Librarian is the first collaboration between Benedict, the author of books such as The Other Einstein and Lady Clementine, and Murray, whose previous books include Wrath and Destiny’s Divas. It was published Tuesday by Berkley.
Michael Schaub is a Texas-based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.
