Mercedes de Acosta was a notorious figure. She had been brought up as a boy and had taken a girlfriend on her honeymoon. Her conquests included Isadora Duncan and Marlene Dietrich. Cecil Beaton first meet Garbo at a party in 1932. But it was more than a decade before they became lovers. Despite her possessive friends and the presence of an increasingly sinister Mercedes, Garbo and Beaton spent many passionate months together in New York and California. For the rest of their lives, Mercedes and Beaton remained enthralled by a star who gave them little in return. Through his careful reading of the papers of Mercedes de Acosta and his unrivalled access to Beaton’s estate, Hugo Vickers has produced a rich and fascinating account which throws light for the first time on many of the mysteries surrounding Garbo and her remarkable admirers.