These books are about a black person passing as white. Forty years or so ago, I read Jesse Faucet’s “Plum Bun.” “Plum bun” is a sexual innuendo because it signifies an attractive woman. Both The Personal Librarian and Plum Bun are set in the 1920s. In Plum Bun, Angela decides to pass so she can pursue her desire to be an artist and live without the hindrance of race. In The Personal Librarian, Belle decides to pass to pursue her passion for collecting rare books.
“The Personal Librarian” was written jointly by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray in 2022. It is based on the real-life Belle da Costa Green, who became J.P. Morgan’s Librarian and oversaw one of the world’s best collections of rare books.
Belle and Angela struggle to separate themselves from their family to maintain their secret. Both women realize that it’s not just race but also gender that is their impediment in life. Angela’s struggle takes a distinctive turn when she falls for a rich racist. Faucet’s novel explores the ethos of the Harlem Renaissance while Beneict and Murray stay firmly in the white world.
While I enjoyed “The Personal Librarian,” “Plumb Bun” has more depth, intrigue, and angst. I recommend both, but if you only read one, read “Plub Bun.
P.S. Ms Faucet is one of the women we should know more about.
Jessie Redmon Fauset (born April 27, 1882, Snow Hill, N.J., U.S. — died April 30, 1961, Philadelphia, Pa.) was an African American novelist, critic, poet, and editor known for her discovery and encouragement of several writers of the Harlem Renaissance.
Fauset graduated from Cornell University (B.A., 1905) and later earned a master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania (1919). For several years, she taught French in an all-black secondary school in Washington, D.C. She published articles in The Crisis magazine, the journal of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Its editor, W.E.B. Du Bois, persuaded her to move to New York City to become the magazine’s literary editor. In that capacity, from 1919 to 1926, she published the works of such writers as Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, Claude McKay, and Jean Toomer. She also edited and wrote for The Brownies’ Book, a short-lived periodical for black children.
