The Personal Librarian

The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray (Berkley, 2021)

This new novel is a collaboration between two authors brought together by their agents during the pandemic. It’s historical fiction that is based on the real life of the personal librarian to early 20th century industrialist J.P. Morgan. Belle DaCosta Greene came from African American roots but at her mother’s insistence changed her name and her identity to pretend to be white. Apparently she was light-skinned enough to get away with it but keeping the secret caused her unbelievable amounts of stress. She even had an abortion because a dark skinned baby would give her secret away. She did achieve her goal of success in her career as a librarian, although her role was more like a rare book collector. It’s a fascinating but disturbing story.

https://bookshop.org/books/the-personal-librarian/9780593101537

Four Hundred Souls

Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019 Edited by Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain (One World, 2021)

This edited collection consists of one hundred short essays on the history of African Americans, each by a different historical or literary expert. Each essay writer was given a period of five years to focus on, starting with 1619-1624 and ending with 2014-2019. After every nine essays there is a poem. It was a very interesting book in which I learned a great deal about the history of African Americans. This is a book that should be in every public high school and college library as a reference for years to come.

https://bookshop.org/books/four-hundred-souls-a-community-history-of-african-america-1619-2019-9780593402429/9780593134047