This is a charming, delightful book. It is full of all the customs and circumstances of the time period, which I find very interesting, as well as being the fascinating journey of one man, Alexander Granach.
Alexander Granach was one of those wonderful central European actors who landed in Hollywood in the 1930s and '40s, who usually appear in small roles but help bring many otherwise pedestrian movies to life. (He is Kapolsky in Ninotchka and, most memorably, the Gestapo man Gruber in Hangmen Also Die.