An Illuminated Life: Belle da Costa Greene's Journey from Prejudice to Privilege

by Heidi Ardizzone

What would you give up to achieve your dream? When J. P. Morgan hired Belle da Costa Greene in 1905 to organize his rare book and manuscript collection, she had only her personality and a few years of experience to recommend her. Ten years later, she had shaped the famous Pierpont Morgan Library collection and was a proto-celebrity in New York and the art world, renowned for her self-made expertise, her acerbic wit, and her flirtatious relationships. Born to a family of free people of color, Greene changed her name and invented a Portuguese grandmother to enter white society. In her new world, she dined both at the tables of the highest society and with bohemian artists and activists. She also engaged in a decades-long affair with art critic Bernard Berenson. Greene is pure fascination—the buyer of illuminated manuscripts who attracted others to her like moths to a flame.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, History, Biography Memoir, Womens, Art, Books About Books

580 pages, Hardcover

First published June 4, 2007

Reviews

[Mir · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually read this book in the form of draft chapters (probably not in the order they take in the book) and haven't gotten around to rereading the final product, but I recommend it to both historians and lay readers who are interested in race, class, and gender in America, or in the histories of libraries and collecting.


Librarian's Office, Morgan Library

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just the barest outline of this book was enough to make me want to read it: Belle Greene was the first director of the Morgan Library, beginning her employment just after the turn of the century, and quickly became one of the most powerful people in the rare book/art world. But then there's this twist: she was passing. As white.

As I started reading, it got even better. Her father was the first African American graduate of Harvard and was pretty prominent in politics. But her mother made the decision to separate and eventually to move from the upper middle class of black society into middle class white society.

Belle herself was quite the character--she was a trailblazer, who was constantly trying to learn more about her chosen field. She had a lengthy affair with Bernard Berenson (art critic) who also happened to be a good friend of Edith Wharton. There was a lot of name dropping.

But I can only give it three stars because some of it felt repetitive. I wanted more about the scholarship at the Library, the daily running of it, how she made such an impact on such a male-dominated field. But I did get to know every detail abour her affairs. And though Ardizzone did a pretty good job of explaining the intricacies of passing, I felt like there could have been a bit more grace with that. Editing this down a bit would have made a much tighter story, with a far greater impact. However, I must acknowledge that some of my issues are caused by gaps in the historical record (Belle burned all of her letters before her death)

Recommended for anyone interested in this time period, racial identity, fancy museum people or glamorous librarians.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Only 1/2 way though, but I need to return to library (what would I do without the library? Oh yes, I'd be poor and have books instead of tables, chairs, etc.).

Update: This is a magnificent biography, beautifully capturing the class and emotional struggles of this complex woman living in a dynamic era. Belle is now on my list of people I would have liked to invite to dinner.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Belle da Costa Greene worked briefly in the library at Princeton University before becoming personal librarian to J.P. Morgan and spending the next few decades writing massive checks at rare book auctions. She was drinking buddies with actress Sarah Bernhardt, painted in the nude by Matisse, and taught to drive by John D. Rockefeller, so it's no wonder she's commonly known as the World's Most Glamorous Librarian.

But as author Heidi Ardizzone's painstaking research in An Illuminated Life shows, before there was a Belle da Costa Greene there was Belle Marian Greener, daughter of the first black graduate of Harvard, who inherited from her father both a racial identity and a love for illuminated manuscripts but chose to keep only the latter, instead embracing the additional opportunities living as a white woman allowed her. Ardizzone is (rightly) very careful to point out that while most people refer to Belle as "passing," it's very difficult to know precisely how Greene viewed her race since she destroyed most of her papers before her death.

In fact, it's difficult to know anything of Greene's interior life unrelated to her long love affair with art critic Bernard Berenson, whose decision to hang onto the many love letters Belle sent him gave Ardizzone at least some primary source material to work with. However, one can't help but wonder how warped of a perspective those letters provide; after all, a love note is a very particular kind of communication with a particular focus (and tendency to posturing) which might not fully reflect the life and concerns of the writer. While the author does have access to a few additional papers by Greene and a great many documents by people who knew her, most of it comes from either the correspondence between Greene and Berenson or commentary written on their affair by Berenson's wife, which has the effect of skewing this biography toward being the story of their grand passion rather than of a unique career woman who eventually decided to choose her work over the "love of her life". To be clear, Greene's famed social whirl and work for (and relationship with) J.P. Morgan are meticulously chronicled, as are Belle's occasionally strained relations with her family, but almost all of this is seen strictly from the outside, with no hint as to what the lady herself may have been thinking.

Ardizzone's Illuminated Life is carefully researched and clearly and thoughtfully written. If I'm disappointed at all, it's because the book she wrote is not the one I so desperately wanted - namely, the behind-the-scenes look into the life of a librarian Phryne Fisher, with oodles of intrigues bracketed by an in-depth discussion of the business of the Morgan library (which, it should be noted, the author does not seem terribly interested in other than as a place where Greene worked; I could have done with less drool over Berenson and more more drool over manuscripts and incunabula, thanks). Actually, now that I think of it, what I really need is a novel where Belle da Costa Greene collects Lovecraftian manuscripts and battles supernatural evil with the help of J.P. Morgan and a bevy of rotating lovers. An Illuminated Life distinctly isn't that, but it will serve as excellent research material for whoever finally gets around to writing the book that is.

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never heard of Belle da Costa Greene. Why??? She was a leader in early 20th century manuscript and rare book librarianship. She was a friend to her employer, J.P. Morgan. She was amazing for so many reasons. A must read for anyone interested in women pioneers in libraries.

The author also packs in an enormous amount of information about late 19th and early 2th century social and art history, all of which affected Belle da Costa Greene and in which she played a part.

[Laura Hoffman Brauman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first learned about Belle da Costa Greene when I read The Personal Librarian, a fictionalized account of her life. When a woman is this fascinating and intriguing and charts a path of her own that defies convention, I almost always prefer a biography. This was a compelling account of Greene - a woman that started working at J. Pierpoint Morgan's library in 1905 after being recommended by his nephew who worked with her at the Princeton Library. She had little formal education in the field, but she did possess an amazing mind and an eye for art combined with an ability to navigate the complicated world of the rich and powerful - she was also passing for white. Belle da Costa Greene was born Belle Marion Greener and her father was the first African-American graduate from Harvard. During her childhood, her parents separated and her mother and siblings began to live as white. Greene entered the university world working at Princeton and her incredible talents put her on the path to be one of the most influential people in the art world at a time when it was almost exclusively male dominated. While she lived a carefully constructed life that gave her access to art that she loved and the influence that mattered to her, at the same time, she often defied societal expectations in her personal life, engaging in numerous affairs, including one for years with Bernard Berenson, an art critic in an open marriage. Her social life moved between the movers and shakers of the NYC elite and the Bohemian group of artists and performers. Greene's life story is such a compelling read- more people should know about her and her legacy. As a bonus, the audio book is narrated by Robin Miles - one of my favorite narrators.

[Linds · Rating 3 out of 5]

DNF at 52%. I've checked this out from the library literally four times now and still haven't finished it, I think I can safely put it down, hah. It's possible I'll come back to it at some point, but given the depth and length of the book (which could've easily been cut down and been just as or arguably even more compelling honestly), I feel like I got enough of the gist. I pursued this book after reading The Personal Librarian novel fictionalizing Belle's life and becoming utterly captivated by her as a person. I was hoping to have more library work and manuscripts and less affair with Bernard Berneson in this biography, but on that, I was disappointed, and it looks like other readers were left with the same impression after finishing it. I realize part of this is because Belle burned her personal effects, so most of the primary source material comes from her letters to Bernard. I respect the hell out of her for keeping her life private, so I will just go on to say to Belle that I admire her as a person and for her accomplishments to the nth, and to echo another reviewer, will be adding her to my list of people I would love to have dinner with. Please school me in fashion and manuscripts.

[Rebecca Fieler]

It was interesting, but alas, the library wanted it back, and it wasn't interesting enough to start paying library fines.

[Lucy Barnhouse · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating biography, rich in anecdote and richly contextualized, illuminating a deliberately enigmatic and elusive subject. I knew Belle da Costa Greene's name, and something (only a fraction, as the book revealed) of her legacy, because of my own identity as a medievalist. Ardizzone's biography manages to show Belle's life as not only important to the world of medievalist scholarship, particularly manuscript studies, but also illustrating how class, race, and gender identities could be negotiated from the late nineteenth century through the first half of the twentieth, particularly in the United States but also in Europe. Belle Greene's extraordinary life often seems more extravagant than fiction, as her auction deals and love affairs took place at something like the epicenter of post-Gilded-Age New York society. Her choices are conspicuously complex, sometimes apparently contradictory; but I found myself, like her contemporaries, forced to respect her.

[Betty · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was well researched but not exactly what I was hoping it would be. Belle da Costa Greene started working as JP Morgan’s librarian in 1905. She acquired, cataloged and cared for the books (and other artwork) in his personal collection. After his death she was responsible for transforming this gorgeous personal collection into a public institution- the Morgan Library, which I have seen first hand and it is astounding. Her life’s work is inspiring. She was a goddess librarian.

This biography was a tad heavy on Belle’s relationships and I found lacking in the library business. I could have read about her book transactions and acquisitions for 400 pages but perhaps that might have bored others as much as her affairs and personal dramas bored me. I really didn’t want the hairy details of her personal life but there you have it.

[Eric Byrd]

A biography of Belle de Costa Greene, J.P. Morgan's librarian, the woman largely responsible for the emminence of the Morgan Library. My old boss, fabulous in a mummified late-70s kinda way, was fond of quoting one of Greene's famous bon mots: "Just because I'm a librarian doesn't mean I have to look like one."

[Susan Baranoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

A couple of years ago I read The Personal Librarian, which is the historical fiction novel about Belle da Costa Greene. I was intrigued enough by the story that when the non fiction volume came into my awareness I felt like I really wanted to know the factual story behind the woman. This is an extremely well-researched book about her life and with as little information as there really is to go on a very well constructed story based on original source documents letters and other pieces of information. It is a book not just about the woman, but also about the society in which the woman lived; the social strata of African-Americans, the decision to pass or not pass into white society, what money could and could not buy you at the turn of the 20th century, all come into play as we watch Belle move through her life. The one huge surprise to me was that her father was Richard Greener, First African-American man to graduate from Harvard college and a social activist. I whole heartedly give this book a total of 4.5 stars. Very good narrator.

52BookClub 2025 Reading Challenge
Prompt #43: Explores social class

[Lindsey Woods · Rating 5 out of 5]

Belle da Costa Greene - you are that girl!!!! THE curator and eventual director of The Morgan Library - one of the premiere library institutes of the Gilded Age. Forget the Julian Fellowes version of The Gilded Age - I want a 7 season HBO-prestige-level-budget series about HER! She had taste, she was confident, she was fierce negotiator and business woman, she was full of contradictions, she cherished her freedom and had a complicated relationship with her race living as a passing woman in NYC, her gender - saying she wasn’t a feminist while living a life of wealthy privilege provided by a career many thought she shouldn’t possess, and her sexuality - having never married and capturing the hearts of many lovers and undergoing an abortion in the very early 1900s. I mean - talk about a complex person. I appreciate the painstaking research that must have gone into putting this book together, especially considering her burning of the correspondence she received. I checked it out on a whim not realizing it was a 22 hour audiobook and I am SO glad I did!! She will always be famous to me 🫶

[Leila Kern · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book was very well written especially since there doesn’t seem to be much historical information on Belle da Costa Greene’s life since Belle destroyed much of her papers. Much of the book relates circumstantial what ifs and/or suppositions. It was interesting to me that people often “passed” meaning changed their racial profile for various reasons; I understand why given the times (and beyond). Belle, herself, seemed like a very shrewd woman trying to better herself. She would have been a very interesting person to have interacted with. Well worth the read especially from a historical perspective although lengthy at times.

[Alison · Rating 3 out of 5]

I very much wish Belle had not destroyed her papers before her death because it seems the main source of information on her is the letters she wrote Berenson and I got pretty tired of their back and forth. I still feel like out there somewhere should be a book that focuses more on her work and less on her love life. I did enjoy many of her witticisms.

[Shelley · Rating 5 out of 5]

A couple of years ago I read The Personal Librarian and really enjoyed it. It was about a passing white black woman who was the librarian for JP Morgan. This book is the official biography of Belle de Costa Green. Since the story takes place in the early 20th century I loved the fact that this black woman passing for white was a prominent amazing woman of her time.

[Karen Jenkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting book about a woman, largely unknown to many of us. She was a Black woman, who "lived as white" most of her life. She obtained a position from one of the wealthiest men at the turn of the century. Because of her intelligence, ambition, and personality, she seemed to be at the center of the arts-books, paintings, music-as a result of being the librarian for J.P.Morgan. A large portion of the book spends a lot of time on her relationships. Although these were important to her professional growth, I wish more time had been spent on HOW she did her job.

[Billi Haug · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW! An amazing book. Thoroughly enjoyed every page. So much history and fascinating look at how historic collections come together. A peek behind the scenes of art/book auctions. The mingling of people in the world of art - of whom I have read a lot, I bumped into here. It was a great read!

[Elyse Hayes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating subject for a biography (first library director of the Morgan Library in NYC - biracial and female!). A doorstop of a book. Author did a valiant job, considering Belle destroyed all the letters she had received over the years. Luckily, some people had saved letters they had received from Belle. I would have liked more information on her actual work as a librarian and shaper of the Morgan collection(s), and less information about her various love affairs. Technical aspects were disappointing. Depressing that a major publisher like Norton cannot afford better proofreaders; typos and word omissions were distracting. The index should have been more thorough and granular. A glossary type list of names would have been useful, since so many proper names were mentioned, and the index was not always helpful. I would advise flipping to the back and reading the end notes. I skipped them because too many were cryptic ("BG to BB 10 May 1921") references to correspondence. But some actually did have interesting supplementary details.

[Liah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ardizzone’s historical account of the colorful life of Bella da Costa Greene is very fascinating. Greene is a woman who truly dared to live life on her own terms. You can question her decision to hide her African American heritage but it’s unlikely you will question her passion for rare books, art, travel, and theater. She made the most of her life given the societal limitations of her time and familial responsibilities. She also seemed to have a very complex relationship with art critic Bernard Berenson and his wife Mary. I think the book sheds some interesting light on the role of women in the early 20th century with respect to their roles in marriages, careers, and overall freedom to travel and experience the world. I applaud Ardizzone’s historical work because she uses a lot of primary sources to reveal the life of Ms. Greene. I think this book is a great start to the historical work that is to come about Ms. Greene and her father Richard Theodore Greener .

[Andrew Taylor · Rating 1 out of 5]

Belle Greene should have been a wonderful subject but author didn’t do it justice. I knew when she noted Belle destroyed her letters we were in trouble. Author could project an agenda and ruined the book for me. First two chapters of a 14 chapter book were on Belles Father. Who disappears from her life and is rarely even noted later in the book. Why? Had to set the table on racism which apparently had little to do with Belle. Author constantly says things like “May, Maybe, We assume” and would draw major conclusions which were in line with the authors studies. Belle was high jacked for a narrative. Not worth the read

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love history and this is based on a very interesting historical figure. Unfortunately it is far too wordy, over names unimportant people, and spends huge portions on “love affairs” and “social drama.” It was an exhausting read and I had to really really force myself to finish.

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Belle da Costa Greene was an extraordinary person; An Illuminated Life: Belle da Costa Greene's Journey from Prejudice to Privilege is a mediocre book.

After reading the novel The Personal Librarian, Belle Greene's character and story captured my imagination and I found myself eager to learn how much was fiction and how much was fact. So I sought out and found this biography written by Heidi Ardizzone. It seemed promising. The The Personal Librarian focused heavily on Ms. Greene's relationship with Bernard Berenson and I found myself thinking that Ms. Greene's professional and social accomplishments were far more interesting and complicated than her affair with an art scholar. However, rather than Belle Greene's "Journey from Prejudice to Privilege," Dr. Ardizzone should have subtitled her book "Belle Greene's Long, Transatlantic Affair."

I do not deny that Berenson had a significant impact on Ms. Greene's personal and professional lives. She learned a great deal from him. However, what makes Ms. Greene remarkable is what she accomplished with all that she learned. For all the granularity devoted to the Greene/Berenson relationship, the ins and outs of Ms. Greene's professional work receive only the vaguest and broadest strokes from Dr. Ardiozzone. As the intensity of the Greene / Berenson relationship intensifies and fades, so does the energy and detail of the story telling. Other relationships are explored in passing, and Ms. Greene's art and book collecting as well as her activities as visionary director of the Morgan Library in the years after J.P. Morgan's death similarly receive only passing reference.

What makes a person such as Belle da Costa Greene fascinating? Her affairs? Or her professional and social accomplishments? For me, the former are mere accents to the latter.

Belle Greene was an unforgiving negotiator. Belle Greene manipulated wealthy collectors, money-hungry nobility in decline, and conniving art dealers. Belle Greene managed large budgets and staid, all-male Boards of Directors.

Put aside she accomplished all this coming from a family of modest income from teaching and music. Belle da Costa Greene accomplished all this while being black and passing as white with the constant threat of exposure and scandal.

Belle da Costa Greene's professional and social accomplishments should have completely dominated the story line of this book. Instead, they are subordinated to romantic longings and sexual dalliances.

I am astounded to realize it took me 5 months to read this book. In retrospect, however, I only stuck with it and finally finished it because I am still fascinated by Ms. Greene and I would like to know more about her. This tomb has not satisfied my curiosity. I am left frustrated.

[Ben Truong · Rating 4 out of 5]

An Illuminated Life: Belle da Costa Greene's Journey from Prejudice to Privilege is a biography of Belle da Costa Greene, a private librarian to J.P. Morgan and would eventually serve as the first director of the Pierpont Morgan Library. Heidi Ardizzone is an assistant professor at Notre Dame and biographer wrote this biography.

Belle da Costa Greene was the librarian to J.P. Morgan. After his death in 1913, Greene continued as librarian under his son, Jack Morgan. In 1924 the private collection was incorporated by the State of New York as a library for public uses, and the Board of Trustees appointed Greene first director of the Pierpont Morgan Library.

Ardizzone's competent, complimentary biography explains the complicated, glamorous woman who transcended her lack of formal higher education and obfuscated her race to become head of the Pierpont Morgan Library and confidante of the financial mogul who founded it.

Belle Green, born Belle Marion Greener, the daughter of a civil rights activist who was the first African-American man to graduate from Harvard College, was plucked by J.P. Morgan's nephew Junius Morgan from the Princeton Library in 1905, where she had developed a passion for the rare pre–15th-century illuminated manuscripts that were to become the basis of her work for Morgan.
Greene became a key player in major acquisitions. By inventing a Portuguese grandmother, she famously lived at full throttle, speaking her mind and taking many lovers, notably married art scholar Bernard Berenson. Morgan's death left her with a sizable inheritance, and she continued at his library.

An Illuminated Life: Belle da Costa Greene's Journey from Prejudice to Privilege is written and researched rather well. Although Ardizzone delineates the intricacies of major art transactions, she devotes more space to the copious details of Greene's flamboyant personal life than to assessments of the Morgan treasures that were her legacy. Still, Ardizzone showcases the impressive talents of a woman who once wielded enormous power in New York society.

All in all, An Illuminated Life: Belle da Costa Greene's Journey from Prejudice to Privilege is a well-written modest, auditory biography of a woman who went through prejudice to privilege within a few short years.

[Malia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is really an astoundingly well-researched biography of a fascinating woman, the first director of the Morgan Library, one of my favorite places to visit in NYC. I think most biographies try to reduce someone's life into a something neat that concludes with an easy soundbite, and this book does not do that at all. Partially because it truly seems like there's no way one could with Belle da Costa Greene. Like, this is someone who couldn't be talked out of thinking Italian fascism was great, but then worked to fund her Jewish friends escaping Nazi Germany? Her father was the first black Harvard grad, and she claimed her skin color was due to a Portuguese grandmother and used the n-word in her correspondence??? That's just the tip of the iceberg. Her story is one of racial passing, of a person whose ideologies were not consistent or steadfast, and whose life in many ways was very mysterious.

Because Ms. Greene's own relationship with race was so fraught, I do wish I could someday read a biography of her written by a black historian, because even though I think the author does her level best to lay out all the information with lots of context for her interpretations, I think there's insight someone who has more intimate knowledge could bring to this story.

The other weakness in this book to me was that I'm a goober who wanted to learn about rare books and manuscripts while I read this biography, and the book is much more about her personal life and the social aspects of her job than the nitty gritty of rare book and manuscript library work.

[Melinda · Rating 5 out of 5]

My book club just read "The Personal Librarian" as part of a local One Book, One Read program. Heidi Ardizzone's excellent biography of Belle da Costa Greene must have been a major source for the authors of that novel - I only wish they had read it more carefully.

Professor Ardizzone does an outstanding job of constructing her narrative based on the records that exist, which include Belle's correspondence with Bernard Berenson. The picture that is created is complex and is a fascinating story of one extraordinary woman's extraordinary life in the first half of the 20th century. I wish more was known about how she developed her expertise books and manuscripts - she clearly did make opportunities for herself and took full advantage of them - as well as how she thought of her racial identity. Professor Ardizzone makes the point that Belle's mother and siblings left life in the Black community behind when Belle was relatively young, so we shouldn't assume we know how she thought of herself -- and existing documents do not make this clear.

Belle was close to Bernard Berenson throughout her adult life; there were other men, and maybe women too, with whom Belle had relationships. Was it the secret of her background that kept her from marriage and children, or the ongoing relationship with Bernard, or the disconnect between her middle class background and her adult life where she was in a very different social environment of extreme wealth -- or maybe she just was a modern woman, at the time the modern woman was being invented, who lived the life she wanted.

This is an amazing book about an exceptional women - I highly recommend it.

[Hope Irvin Marston · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm an avid reader by birth, and a librarian by profession. I chose to read this book after my local librarian recommended THE PERSONAL LIBRARIAN, a novel based on the life of Belle da Costa Greene, which I enjoyed very much. How this very intelligent, rather light-skinned black lady kept her ethnicity a secret was both remarkable and necessary for her accomplishments.

AN ILLUMINATED LIFE is the longest book I've read, and one of the most intriguing. (I could have done without so much illumination on Belle's promiscuity, but one couldn't honestly describe her life and omit that side of it.)

I enjoyed reading about J. P. Morgan's library and how its holdings were ferreted out and purchased one by one at a great cost through the years. Over time with Bella's wisdom his library housed "a leading and permanent collection of illuminated manuscripts that nurtured the development of scholarship on the field and allowed public access to its treasures."

In addition to the education into the arts that I received, I also marveled at the abundance of research required by the author to gather the information about Belle's personal life as well as the importance and the value of the manuscripts purchased for the Morgan library.

Hope Irvin Marston, winner of the 2021 Charlotte Award for THE WALLS HAVE EARS: A BLACK SPY IN THE CONFEDERATE WHITE HOUSE

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very interesting book about a fascinating woman who defied the conventions of her time and place. Belle was a woman working very successfully in a man's world, and a woman of color working seamlessly in a world where only white men dared to tread. The Morgan Library she dedicated her life to is a wonderful museum open to the public, something she advocated for from her first days at the Library and was responsible for making happen.

Unfortunately, Belle destroyed all her own personal papers not long before she passed away, so most of the original documentation about her and her work is essentially limited to letters she wrote to others. Because of this, a good portion of the book is focused on her intimate relationship with Bernard Berenson as well as with other men. The book really bogged down for me in the throws of her love affair with BB and I came close to giving up on it. But I skimmed thru a good portion of that part and it did improve somewhat after that section. Still, I would have liked to have read more about her day to day work at the Library, her evaluations of the acquisitions she was responsible for, and the negotiations she conducted on behalf of the Morgans and the Library.

[Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yay for libraries! This book is not available in print. A great read about a fascinating woman. Belle was a modern (think 21st century modern) woman living and working in 1910+ amongst a wealthy society that most people only read about. The book did a very good job of sustaining my interest all the way through her life.

One of my problems was with all the names of the people she partied with and her boyfriends. The names were important, but after a while I just glazed over them. There were too many for my brain to keep track of. Adding more context for these people wouldn’t have helped the read. Maybe a timeline+roster+one-line blurb about each her cohorts at the back of the book for reference?

Another concern I had was with the projection into Belle’s thinking. I realize it may be necessary to do that because Belle destroyed all her letters, so that the only records left were from others (one side of the story). But at times, the projections became repetitive. Early in the book, I got the gist that Belle was human, had secrets and unhealthy obsessions, but did I need to be reminded of that several times in each chapter?

All in all, a very good read.