The Personal Librarian

Belle returns with her family to Washington, D.C., four months later for the funeral of Grandma Fleet, the matriarch of Genevieve’s family. When they arrive, their extended family is cool towards them because they disapprove of Genevieve’s decision to pass. Genevieve tells them that passing is the only wise course these days. The new Jim Crow laws will soon destroy the elite Black district where the Fleets live. Mozart Fleet, Belle’s uncle, later warns her that she is grave danger because she is passing as white. Being unmasked by powerful people like J.P. could be life-threatening.

A few months later, Belle attends a gallery show designed to publicize the work of Photo-Successionists, modernist photographic artists who use artistic techniques in their work. They represent everything a traditionalist like J.P. rejects. The next morning, J.P. is cold and angry with Belle. When he calls her into his office, she assumes he has discovered that she is passing. It turns out that a blind item implying that J.P. may be adding modernist work to his collection is in the newspaper. Because it includes the word “bell,” J.P. assumes the item is a quote from Belle. He reminds her in harsh terms that the library is his, not hers. She is shaken by this encounter.

Seven months later, Belle goes to London on a business trip. Genevieve is her chaperone. Belle convinces a cash-strapped aristocrat to sell her several Caxton texts before auction. Before news of the deal leaks, she assures one dealer that she will not outbid them—technically true since she is buying them before auction. Belle tells Genevieve that bright, feminine clothes allow her to become visible enough to earn the respect of people who might ordinarily ignore her. As Genevieve watches Belle maneuver, she finally approves of Belle’s approach to her public persona: “hiding in plain sight” (120).

Dealers write J.P. to praise Belle’s canniness, which flatters J.P. Another pulse of attraction moves between them, but it ends when J.P. introduces her to some guests, Bernard Berenson (a collector for a rival to J.P.) and Mary (Bernard’s wife and a writer and lecturer). Before the introduction, J.P. mentions that Bernard is rumored to be Jewish. Based on J.P.’s tone, Belle senses an antisemitic prejudice. Belle is drawn to Berenson instantly, and flirts with him in front of his wife.

Belle encounters Bernard again at a Red Party event to celebrate women. Belle’s attraction to Bernard, honed by her life in J.P.’s world, dulls her social instincts. Mary joins them. Belle learns the couple will soon return to Italy. Mary leaves, and Bernard shares his passionate belief that art is “the great equalizer” (146) and keeps caressing Belle, despite Mary’s presence in the room.

After learning that Bernard is in an open marriage, Belle realizes that a relationship with him may be the perfect answer to a predicament she is only now recognizing. It is unlikely that Belle will marry and become a mother: Any child she has may reveal her racial heritage. Belle is thus receptive a few weeks later when Bernard propositions her during a meeting at the Met. Belle wonders if Bernard would pursue her if he knew she was Black, but she accepts his offer.

Belle meets with Bernard at a hotel, where he professes his love. They make out but stop short of sex because Belle wants more than a physical relationship. Belle knows any relationship with Bernard is a danger to her.

Belle grows restless after her date with Bernard. She begins taking more overt risks, but she starts to feel like a “circus performer” (164) who is playing to the expectations of elites who see her as an outsider. Belle meets up with old college friends, Evelyn and Katrina. They think Belle is a symbol of what a modern career woman with no traditional relationships can achieve, despite the fact that their own choices are much bolder than Belle’s. Their views make Belle re-examine who she is. She sends Bernard a miniature self-portrait and describes her nights with women’s rights activists in Greenwich Village. She lets Bernard know that a relationship with him suits her life as a modern woman.

Even though his family disapproves, J.P. begins to invite Belle to private family events. Meanwhile, Belle plans a trip to Europe to secure a book of prayers (the da Costa hours, rumored to have been created by Memling or his apprentices). Her real reason for the trip is to see Bernard, and J.P. suspects as much. He closes the conversation by telling Belle that she “belongs” to him (176) and instructs her not to see Bernard during her trip.