Belle Greene

Name: Belle Greene
Brand: Findaway
Availability: InStock
Author: Alexandra Lapierre
ISBN: 9781609457808

Author: Alexandra Lapierre

Narrator: Ja'Air Bush

Unabridged: 19 hr 2 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Europa Editions

Published: 06/14/2022

Categories: Fiction, Women, African American & Black Fiction, Historical Fiction

Synopsis

Based on the true story of Belle da Costa Greene, a woman who defied all odds to carve out a destiny of her own choosing, this is a richly imagined novel bursting with atmosphere, lush period detail, and many unforgettable characters. New York in the 1900s. A young girl fascinated by rare books defies all odds and becomes the director of one of the country’s most prestigious private libraries. It belongs to the magnate J. P. Morgan,darling of the international aristocracy and one of the city’s richest men. Flamboyant, brilliant, beautiful, Belle is among New York society’s most sought after intellectuals. She also hides a secret. Although she looks white, she is African American, the daughter of a famous black activist who sees her desire to hide her origins as the consummate betrayal. Torn between history’s ineluctable imperatives and the freedom to belong to the society of her choosing, Belle’s drama, which plays out in a violently racist America, is one that resonates forcefully, and illuminatingly even today. The fruit of years of research and interviews, Alexandra Lapierre’s magnificent novel recounts the struggles, victories, and heartbreaks of a woman who is free, astonishingly determined, daring, and fully, exuberantly alive.

About Alexandra Lapierre

Alexandra Lapierre is a bestselling French novelist, short story writer, and biographer. She graduated from Sorbonne University and the University of Southern California. Her works, including Artemisia, bring back to life great women and characters neglected by history. Her books have been published in more than twenty countries. She lives in Paris.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Simoranda on November 25, 2021

La storia è interessantissima ma è scritta in maniera molto infantile, sembra una fan fiction......more

Goodreads review by Mandy on August 01, 2022

Belle Greene was a remarkable woman, who lived a remarkable life, and this thoroughly researched fictionalised biography tells her story which is a truly astonishing one. Belle’s family decided, after the father had abandoned them, to spend the rest of their lives passing as a white, a dangerous thi......more

Goodreads review by Deborah on November 08, 2024

This is the most sensationalizing account of Belle Greene's remarkable life--and the worse. The best book on Belle is Heidi Ardizzone's An illuminated Life: Belle da Costa Greene's Journey from Prejudice to Privilege. The daughter of parents of mixed ancestry, Belle passed for white. As J. Pierpont......more

Goodreads review by Lee on March 04, 2022

I had this as 4-stars. I couldn't do it. It has to be five :-) What an incredibly well-written, thoroughly researched , and totally fascinating novel that tells the story of Belle da Costa Greene, who became the director of magnate J. Pierpont Morgan’s library in 1905. Belle became a librarian at Pri......more

Goodreads review by Zoe on November 28, 2022

Rich, captivating, and immersive! Belle Greene is a beautifully written, fascinating interpretation that sweeps you away to New York between 1898 and the mid-1900s and into the life of Belle Greene from the abandonment of the family by her father, the first African American to graduate from Harvard,......more