All of them play an important part in the story Lillian Hellman writes about herself in Pentimento (her memoir). The fact I’d heard repeated about her again and again was that she stood up to Joe McCarthy in the 50s.

I picked this book up at my grandmother’s while cleaning out her belongings. After a long day of sorting through and then hauling my grandmother’s clothing to the thrift shop, I spent a few hours going through books. Reading books is how I’m going to grieve and get through this. And what a joy it’s been.

As soon as the mafia was mentioned, I knew exactly why my grandmother liked this book. She always loved a good story, and she especially loved a good story with a spy or mafia member thrown in for spice and additional mystery.

Hellman weaves a story about her cousin, who came here from Germany. Eventually, the cousin disappears and the husband is left on his own. No one knows where the cousin has gone. One day, Hellman spots her cousin walking into a “store.” The store is really a front for a mafia operation, and the new man in her life is a major player in the mafia (who later ends up chopped into pieces behind the store).

As they say, “that’s not all.” In another episode, Hellman is asked by a strange man to help carry $50,000 into Nazi Germany on her way to Moscow. The tale involves being followed, sending secret messages to people standing on train platforms, wearing a fur hat stuffed with money, and then being followed some more.

As I continue to read this book, I find it hard to believe all of this drama happened to one person. Since Hellman was a lady of drama, it somehow seems fitting.