At the height of her celebrity, Madeleine Carroll (1906-1987) was the world's highest-paid actress. She worked alongside such greats as Laurence Olivier and Charles Laughton, British directors Victor Saville and Alfred Hitchcock, and Hollywood directors John Ford and Otto Preminger. She also did radio and television shows--all of which she abandoned to become a Red Cross worker.

Piecing together long-lost facts, the author describes Carroll's almost indescribable life, narrating her personal highs and lows, as well as her fervent commitment to helping others--particularly child victims of war.