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Victoria Christopher Murray is a New York Times bestselling author of more than thirty novels, including The Personal Librarian, a Good Morning America book club pick, and The First Ladies, Target's 2023 Book of the Year, both of which she coauthored with Marie Benedict. She is a NAACP Image Award Winner for Outstanding Literary Work for her novel Stand Your Ground, which was also a Library Journal Best Book of the Year. She holds an MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business.
Victoria Christopher Murray's website
This bio was last updated on 01/28/2025. In a perfect world, we would like to keep all of BookBrowse's biographies up to date, but with many thousands of lives to keep track of it's simply impossible to do. So, if the date of this bio is not recent, you may wish to do an internet search for a more current source, such as the author's website or social media presence. If you are the author or publisher and would like us to update this biography, send the complete text and we will replace the old with the new.
What about Belle da Costa Greene's story made it necessary to write?
MB: In general, I am a writer on a mission—to excavate from the detritus of the past the most important women of history and bring into the light of present day their world-altering contributions and the insights from the very modern issues with which they struggled—and my ultimate goal is to change the lens through we view not only the past but the present. I first encountered the main character in The Personal Librarian when I was a lawyer in New York City, and I'd retreat to the Morgan Library as a place of refuge and sanctuary when I was frustrated with the career, which I knew wasn't my calling. While there one day, a docent mentioned The Personal Librarian to J. P. Morgan, Belle da Costa Greene, and I became fascinated with this woman who became one of the most powerful people in the art world, although there was very little information available about her at that time. When I decided to focus exclusively on historical fiction about women, Belle was always on my list of women I wanted to write about. But until I met Victoria, I didn't feel ready to delve into a book about her, because at the core of Belle's identity is her decision to pass as ...
Marie Benedict is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Queens of Crime, The Mitford Affair, Her Hidden Genius, The Mystery of Mrs. Christie, The Only Woman in the Room, Lady Clementine, Carnegie's Maid, ... (more)
If you enjoyed:
The Personal Librarian
Try:
The Mystery of Mrs. Christie
by Marie Benedict
Born and raised in Southern California, Brit Bennett graduated from Stanford University and later earned her MFA in fiction at the University of Michigan, where she won a Hopwood Award in Graduate Short Fiction as well as the... (more)
If you enjoyed:
The Personal Librarian
Try:
The Vanishing Half
by Brit Bennett
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