The Personal Librarian

The Personal Librarian
Marie Benedict and
Victoria Christopher Murray
New York: Berkley, 2021
Rare Book Collection
Vanderbilt University Special Collections

One of two recent works of fiction based on Greene’s life. Co-authors Victoria Murray and Heather Terrell tell the story of Belle da Costa Greene in her capacity as the personal librarian to J. Pierpont Morgan from 1905 to 1924. This initial position was her job before becoming the Pierpont Morgan Library’s first director, which is briefly touched on in the concluding chapters of the book. Racial passing is prominently discussed throughout the novel, and by using a first-person perspective with Greene as the narrator, Murray and Terrell speculate on how she viewed her personal history, race, and identity.