In THE GHOST OF MADISON AVENUE, Nancy Bilyeau gives us a heartwarming treat of an historical novella perfect not only for Christmastime but year-round. The protagonist is Helen, an Irish-American widow still grieving the death of her husband in the Spanish-American War. From childhood, Helen's hands have been imbued with strange powers -- a preternaturally deft touch. Those powers land her a position at the library of robber baron, J.P. Morgan, where she is charged with cleaning and caring for Morgan's extensive collection of rare artwork, artifacts, and illuminated manuscripts. Almost immediately, strange things begin happening in and around the library, things only Helen seems to see. The author's exceptional research into and knowledge of the period brings Gilded Age New York to vivid life along with the fascinating personages who populated it, including Morgan and Belle Da Costa Greene, his personal librarian and curator and later, the director of the Morgan Library and Museum.
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A beautiful story of love and loss
A fast read it was (it’s a novella) but one that will stay with me. In ten chapters, Bilyeau weaves many threads: New York during the Gilded Age, the wonders of the Morgan Library, the barely met but ever present J. P. Morgan himself, the close-knit and diverse Irish-American community, family ties that bind, hurt and heal, and twin stories of love lost. Of course, as the title indicates, this is also a ghost story. But here the supernatural, as in the Sister Joanna trilogy, guides the arc of the story without veering into horror tricks.We meet Helen O’Neill, a middle-aged widow and denizen of the Bronx. She has never recovered from the untimely death of her husband but finds some solace in the embrace of her upwardly mobile family, and her own professional achievements. She has just been hired by Belle da Costa Greene, Morgan’s fascinating librarian, to tend to the treasures of his collection. Because Helen has a gift with ancient artifacts. A gift best described by ancestral Irish lore. Certainly a gift that has allowed her to rise from kitchen hand to unofficial conservator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Maybe the same gift that allows her to notice an oddly dressed young woman on Madison Avenue. As with every great read, the turning of the last page opens more doors. I now want to return to the Morgan Library to look at it with a new eye. I also want to learn more about J. P. Morgan and his librarian, Belle da Costa Greene. Yes, she is a historical character.
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