They were bright but without access to education, and had to accept whatever work was available to them. My ancestors and many, many like them supported the family members that came with them and the hungry folks back home by working in mines and mills if they were men and as domestics in the homes of the wealthy if they were women. In the 1800s, my ancestors made a treacherous voyage to come to this country from an impoverished Ireland. I would not be writing these words without libraries - quite literally. But the novel is also a celebration of libraries - the Morgan Library figures as the centerpiece of the story, after all - not only because libraries transformed Belle’s life, but because they utterly transfigured ours. In the pages of our book, The Personal Librarian, we hope to impart many things - an homage to the life of the astonishing historical woman Belle da Costa Greene, an unflinching look at the rise in racism after Reconstruction, and the vast legacy Belle left us.
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