Belle soon proved herself by acquiring priceless ancient works in New York, London and Paris out from under the noses of battle-hardened brokers and dealers - all older men. His ambition was boundless, as was his wallet. He hired Belle to organize and expand these works into a world-class Pierpont Morgan Library. When Belle first met Morgan he owned a large collection of rare manuscripts, books and artwork.

Belle had to guard every word, move and emotion to avoid betraying her true ethnicity and ending a life and financial prosperity few people - Black or white - had achieved in that time. Her father, a civil rights activist whom she dearly loved, abandoned Belle, her mother and siblings after they decided to live as a white family. While social issues are a thread of this book, the main thrust is the life Belle made for herself through her wit, intelligence, and single-minded determination to succeed at all costs. His was a world apart from Belle’s true heritage, though she hailed from an educated family (her father was the first Black American Harvard graduate) and she herself was college-educated.

In Belle’s time gender bias and racism were especially rampant, certainly in the rarified circles in which Morgan moved.

At her mother’s urging and to her father’s dismay, Belle elected to discard her real name, Belle Marion Greener, for the pseudonym she lived with for the rest of her life. At the age of 20, Belle’s life began in earnest when she was introduced to the fierce and fabulously wealthy Morgan by his nephew.

The personal librarian paperback