What an extraordinary life actress and screenwriter Salka Viertel lived! I had to read this book with Wikipedia open next to me, because Veirtel’s career intersected with so many 20th-century notables in Europe and the U.S. (I could have wished the NYRB had invested in some footnotes, but OK they rescued this fascinating book from obscurity.) Born Jewish in Ukraine in 1889, her life was shaped by all the dislocations one could imagine: two World Wars and the resulting poverty, famine, and destruction; anti-semitism; and American McCarthyism. But she also had her art, her family, and her friends, which together formed a solid center around which all the troubles swirled. For me the story really took off when she and husband Berthold Viertel settled in Santa Monica in 1928, thinking they’ll return to Berlin or Vienna or Switzerland after making a nest egg in Hollywood. Hitler rearranged those plans, and the longer Salka remained in California, the stronger her ties became. (Berthold’s roving eye and restless intellect was another story.) Her home became a center of exiled artists, writers, and intellectuals, while she fought for a fair writing deal from MGM and Warner’s. Her simpatico with Greta Garbo made her the go-to gatekeeper for any producer who wanted to work with Garbo, and their friendship endured until the end of Viertel’s life. The wartime treatment of actors and writers by studios alone is worth the read. Viertel’s matter-of-fact writing style sometimes makes it difficult for the reader to discern what was important in her life, but perhaps it *all* was; it wouldn’t surprise me if this remarkable woman dedicated the same passion to everyone in her life.