By the Book: Historical fiction personalizes stories

I have come to really admire writers of historical fiction. Not only do these writers require imagination and skill in writing, they also must devote hours or months or, in some cases, years to research their subjects.

“The Personal Librarian” by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray presents a fictional account of Belle da Costa Greene, the personal librarian to financier JP Morgan and the driving force that turned Morgan’s personal library into an internationally acclaimed collection of rare books, manuscripts, drawings and Renaissance art.

Greene was described as the most accomplished business woman of the time (early 20th century) and the foremost expert on art and incunabula during her career. She moved in the most elite social circles in New York and London. But what was most remarkable about Greene is that she was born Belle Marion Greener to Black (or colored, as Belle and her family referred to themselves) parents.

Greene’s mother represented the family as white to a census taker, changed their name, and invented a Portuguese grandmother to explain their olive skin. 

The novel focuses on Greene’s inner struggle with her authentic identity versus her ambition. She knew that if her race were revealed it would end her career, and perhaps her life, as well as tarnish the reputation of the Pierpont Morgan Library, which she loved as much or more than Morgan himself did.

Greene narrates the novel in the present tense, but her tone is objective and formal, almost aloof, as one might expect of someone who had to worry every moment of every day that her true self would be revealed. She holds the reader at arm’s length just as she must do with her colleagues, friends and lovers, lest they learn her secret.

However, we are drawn to and sympathize with Greene as she sacrifices her extended family, marriage, motherhood and even her father to maintain the life she built as a white woman.

“Daughter of a Daughter of a Queen” by Sarah Bird is another fictional account of an actual woman, Cathy Williams/William Cathay, who disguised herself as a man so that she could join the U.S. Army after the Civil War.

Williams was a freed slave, or “captive” as she calls herself. In 1866 she joins a cavalry unit of the Buffalo Soldiers. She maintained her secret for two years of her three-year hitch. However, her deception was discovered when she was hospitalized with a fever. She was discharged from the army.

This novel is also a personal account of Williams’ inner struggle to hide her “true nature,” as well as the logistical struggle to hide her sex from the men that she spends 24 hours a day with. 

In stark contrast to Greene’s voice, Williams makes the reader her confidante, drawing in the audience until we feel like we are right next to her as she kills her owner by dropping a brown recluse in his pocket, falls in love with a dying soldier, and kills a rattlesnake and puts it in her enemy’s bed roll.

Both Greene and Williams fight and sacrifice for their freedom and independence during times when their color and sex were considered inferior, and suitable jobs for them were washerwoman, cook or worse. They defied society’s norms, proved their skill and worth, and bested many of those who would relegate them to the lowest rungs of society.

There are biographies and other non-fiction works that recount the lives of the actual women who inspired these novels. However, the documentation about them is scant, since the army placed little value on retaining the records of the Buffalo Soldiers and Belle Greene destroyed all her personal papers and correspondence shortly before her death.

Bird, Benedict and Murray, however, fill the gaps left by the limited source material on these two remarkable women of color. They use not only research, but also logical extrapolations and story-telling skills. They bring to life the personal stories of two women that fought racism and sexism, and readers are richer for it.

The conversation

If you have a recommendation, a question, want to add to the conversation, or read more reviews, please visit my blog at ByTheBookBTX.blogspot.com, or email ByTheBookBTX@gmail.com.

Bennett is a retired English and journalism teacher. She is a columnist for the Advertiser and serves on the Bastrop Public Library Board.