Belle Greene
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Narrated by:
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Ja'Air Bush
About this listen
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.
©2022 Alexandra Lapierre (P)2022 Europa EditionsListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
“In this extensively researched historical novel, we see Belle from the time she’s a young woman born Belle Greener, daughter of the first Black man to graduate from Harvard. An engaging story about a brilliant woman who risks everything.”—Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)
“Erudite, sharp, and worldly, she hid an incredible secret…The story told with panache by Alexandra Lapierre of one of the first women of the 20th century to have had the madness, and above all the courage, to choose her own destiny.”—ELLE Magazine (France)
“With the tale of this amazing destiny, Alexandra Lapierre recounts a piece of American history and the story of a flamboyant woman. Lapierre loves extraordinary characters: in Belle Greene, she has found a heroine worthy of her talent.”—Le Matin Dimanche
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- Unabridged
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Kemal, scion of one of the city's wealthiest families, is about to become engaged to Sibel, daughter of another prominent family, when he encounters Füsun, a beautiful shopgirl and a distant relation. Once the long-lost cousins violate the code of virginity, a rift begins to open between Kemal and the world of the Westernized Istanbul bourgeosie - a world, as he lovingly describes it, with opulent parties and clubs, society gossip, picnics, and mansions on the Bosphorus, infused with the melancholy of decay.
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one of the very best I've ever heard
- By Rebecca Lindroos on 03-06-10
By: Orhan Pamuk, and others
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Enchantress of Numbers
- By: Jennifer Chiaverini
- Narrated by: Virginia Leishman
- Length: 20 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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The only legitimate child of Lord Byron, the most brilliant, revered, and scandalous of the Romantic poets, Ada was destined for fame long before her birth. Estranged from Ada's father, who was infamously "mad, bad, and dangerous to know", Ada's mathematician mother is determined to save her only child from her perilous Byron heritage. Banishing fairy tales and make-believe from the nursery, Ada's mother provides her daughter with a rigorous education grounded in mathematics and science.
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INFORMATIVE BACKGROUND LISTENING
- By Imamomof4 on 02-19-20
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The Personal Librarian
- By: Marie Benedict, Victoria Christopher Murray
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 12 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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In her twenties, Belle da Costa Greene is hired by J. P. Morgan to curate a collection of rare manuscripts, books, and artwork for his newly built Pierpont Morgan Library. Belle becomes a fixture in New York City society and one of the most powerful people in the art and book world, known for her impeccable taste and shrewd negotiating for critical works as she helps create a world-class collection.
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A Treat For This Academic Librarian!
- By AlTonya on 07-14-21
By: Marie Benedict, and others
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Mark Twain: Man in White
- The Grand Adventure of His Final Years
- By: Michael Shelden
- Narrated by: Andrew Garman
- Length: 17 hrs
- Unabridged
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Pulitzer Prize finalist Michael Shelden illuminates Mark Twain’s twilight years in this brilliant account of the legendary author’s life. Drawing heavily on Twain’s own letters and journals, Mark Twain: Man in White recounts both Twain’s private family experiences and his larger-than-life public image.
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Fantastic book
- By Tad Davis on 08-23-10
By: Michael Shelden
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Behind the Scenes in the Lincoln White House
- Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the White House
- By: Elizabeth Keckley
- Narrated by: Bobbie Frohman
- Length: 6 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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A former slave who became a successful dressmaker with her own business, became the dresser, dressmaker and confidante to Mary Todd Lincoln during Abraham Lincoln's presidential adminstration. Behind the Scenes tells the story of the rise of Elizabeth Keckley from abused slave to independent business woman to friend of the First Lady of the land during the Civil War.
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No Southern Accent
- By GMR on 08-13-14
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Now, Voyager
- Femmes Fatales
- By: Olive Higgins Prouty
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
- Length: 7 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Boston blueblood Charlotte Vale has led an unhappy, sheltered life. Lonely, dowdy, repressed, and pushing 40, Charlotte finds salvation at a sanitarium, where she undergoes an emotional and physical transformation. After her extreme makeover, the new Charlotte tests her mettle by embarking on a cruise and finds herself in a torrid love affair with a married man which ends at the conclusion of the voyage. But only then can the real journey begin, as Charlotte is forced to navigate a new life for herself.
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The Inspiration for The Movie Classic
- By Susie on 12-17-12
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Effie
- The Passionate Lives of Effie Gray, John Ruskin and John Everett Millais
- By: Suzanne Fagence Cooper
- Narrated by: Sophie Ward
- Length: 12 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Effie Gray, a beautiful and intelligent young socialite, rattled the foundations of England's Victorian age. Married at 19 to John Ruskin, the leading art critic of the time, she found herself trapped in a loveless, union after Ruskin rejected her on their wedding night. She met John Everett Millais, Ruskin's protege, and fell passionately in love with him. Suzanne Fagence Cooper has gained exclusive access to Effie's previously unseen letters and diaries to tell the complete story of this scandalous love triangle.
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Fascinating Story--Victoriana
- By Cariola on 06-29-12
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The Quilter's Apprentice
- Elm Creek Quilts, Book 1
- By: Jennifer Chiaverini
- Narrated by: Christina Moore
- Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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An engaging tale full of warmth and wisdom, The Quilter’s Apprentice is the first novel in best-selling author Jennifer Chiaverini’s Elm Creek Quilts series. Sarah McClure takes a job helping elderly Sylvia Compson prepare her family estate for sale. Sylvia, a master quilter, agrees to share the tricks of the trade with Sarah. As the two women grow close, Sylvia shares her family’s tragic past, compelling Sarah to look at her own life more closely.
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A Mixed Bag
- By Potato Potato on 09-19-13
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Fortune's Children
- The Fall of the House of Vanderbilt
- By: Arthur T. Vanderbilt II
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 18 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Written by descendant Arthur T. Vanderbilt II, Fortune's Children traces the dramatic and amazingly colorful history of this great American family, from the rise of industrialist and philanthropist Cornelius Vanderbilt to the fall of his progeny - wild spendthrifts whose profligacy bankrupted a vast inheritance.
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The Rise and Fall of the Gilded Age
- By Hilary on 10-22-14
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Dreamers of the Day
- A Novel
- By: Mary Doria Russell
- Narrated by: Ann Marie Lee
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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A 40-year-old schoolteacher from Ohio still reeling from the tragedies of the Great War and the influenza epidemic, Agnes has come into a modest inheritance that allows her to take the trip of a lifetime to Egypt and the Holy Land. Arriving at the Semiramis Hotel just as an historic Peace Conference convenes, Agnes, with her plainspoken American opinions - and a small, noisy dachshund named Rosie - enters into the company of the historic luminaries.
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Little Big Woman
- By W.Denis on 10-02-08
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Mademoiselle Chanel
- By: C. W. Gortner
- Narrated by: Rebecca Gibel
- Length: 14 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Born into rural poverty, Gabrielle Chanel and her siblings are sent to an orphanage after their mother's death. The sisters nurture Gabrielle's exceptional sewing skills, a talent that will propel the willful young woman into a life far removed from the drudgery of her childhood.
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Fiction Not Biography
- By Sara on 02-07-16
By: C. W. Gortner
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The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte
- By: Syrie James
- Narrated by: Bianca Amato
- Length: 16 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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From Syrie James, the best-selling author of The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen, comes a novel that captures the passionate heart and restless soul of Charlotte Brontë—the author who gave the world Jane Eyre while longing for a soulmate.
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Twice a year
- By Victoria Evangelina on 03-23-12
By: Syrie James
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Ethan Frome
- By: Edith Wharton
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 3 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Ethan Frome, a poor, downtrodden New England farmer, is trapped in a loveless marriage to his invalid wife, Zeena.When Zeena's young cousin Mattie arrives to help care for her, Ethan is immediately taken by Mattie's warm, vivacious personality. They fall desperately in love as he realizes how much is missing from his life and marriage.
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Slow is smooth and smooth is Fast until it isn't
- By Darwin8u on 05-29-13
By: Edith Wharton
What listeners say about Belle Greene
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Carmen Gibson
- 09-07-22
The Absolute Go To for Belle's Life
If you will only read one book about Belle de Costa Green, this must be the one. I enjoyed listening to it on audible. The narrator must be given a chance. At first her voice seemed to cube across too immature. But rather quickly I discovered it was a great voice to tell Belle's story. The research and detail is superb. This author is able to piece this life together and write in a way that it tells a story. The Illuminated Life was good but lacks the information discovered since it's writing. The Personal Librarian comes no where near to as good as this book.
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- Aviva Dankner
- 10-15-22
The story is interesting, the narration is bad
Until I read the book I never even thought of the pain and dangers of blacks crossing over. The writing itself was not very good.The sentence structure and the vocabulary are infantile, the metaphors are unbelievable in their pedestrian comparisons. I went over to reading the book, which was by far better than the terrible narration.
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- Amazon Customer
- 01-16-24
Disappointing
I only recently learned of Belle Da Costa Greene, the beautiful mixed-race woman who, with her brother and sisters, left her Black community behind to re-create herself as a young white woman in New York City in the early decades of the 20th century. After graduating from Princeton she rose to become the personal librarian and confidante of James Pierpont Morgan, wealthy, sophisticated and rubbing shoulders with the upper echelons of society. There had to be a fascinating story there.
I was disappointed in this historical novel based on her life, however. The translation felt stilted and the story's flow wasn't helped by the narrator, who read in an almost unvarying rhythmic sing-song. There is a lot of irrelevant detail that became tedious, while context that I would have liked to know more about was absent. It was too long by half.
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