Bernadine was quite a woman! She certainly got around and by the time she arrived in Shanghai in 1929 at the age of thirty three she had already been through three husbands. Once there she married her fourth and proceeded to make a new life for herself. She established a popular salon where she met all the great and the good (and the not so great and not so good) who passed through Shanghai, that social hub of the East. The book is a name-dropper’s paradise. Already successful as a hostess, she then became an impresario in the theatre. Sadly she was less successful as a mother. After the fall of Shanghai she ended up in Hollywood. I thoroughly enjoyed this fascinating account of her life against the background of a fascinating era in Chinese history. I learnt so much, not just about this remarkable and talented – if not always very nice – woman, but also about the history of these tumultuous years.

An interesting read about a remarkable woman who lived in Shanghai in the 1930's and ran a salon and hob-knobbed with many famous people (from Hollywood to famous exiles like herself). Sadly she had to marry to keep up her lifestyle and her husband, Chester, did not want her daughter from a previous marriage in her life. This leads to an ultimately tragic life for her daughter (but not before she works as Katherine Hepburn's stand-in in movies). Bernardine ultimately ends up living in Hollywood and in the end has to sell off some of her collection she amassed during her time in China. This book gives us a great glimpse into Shanghai during that time.

Thank you to Netgalley and Post Hill Press for an ARC and I voluntarily left this review.

Bernardine Szold-Fritz(August 4,1896-February, 1982) was born in Peoria, Illinois.She was a hostess, correspondent,and actress.Her private life was complex.She became known in Shanghai for her home salon,attracting Chinese and foreign writers, actors, artists and musicians.Bernadine was part of the Chicago Renaissance,the Algonquin Roundtable in New York, the Lost Generation in Paris,bustling 1930s Shanghai,and Hollywood’s Golden Age.Bernardine was both personable and sociable,as she connected people in ways that brought about great works of photography, ballet, theatre, and literature.A salon is a gathering of people held by a host.Salons were an important place for the exchange of ideas.In the 1920s, Gertrude Stein's Saturday evening salons gained notoriety for including 20th-century luminaries.The salonnières were not social climbers but intelligent, self-educated, and educating women who adopted and implemented the values of the Enlightenment Republic of Letters and used them to reshape the salon to their own social intellectual, and educational needs'.There was an absence of social hierarchy as people of different social ranks and orders mixed.As the new medium of cinema was beginning to replace theatre as a source of large-scale spectacle, the Little Theatre Movement developed in the US around 1912,providing experimental centres for the dramatic arts, free from the standard production mechanisms used in prominent commercial theatres.Old Shanghai enjoyed a plethora of entertainment-but for some, the theatre was the place to be seen and to see plays and performances and enjoy the glamorous side of culture.Bernadine founded the International Arts Theatre.The establishment of The Shanghai International Settlement and the French Concession, led to Shanghai becoming a primary commercial and financial hub of Asia in the 1930s.Emigrants of many countries and all continents came to Shanghai to live and work;those who stayed for long periods⁠⁠—some for generations-called themselves "Shanghailanders".English, French, and Russian cultures dominated.Shanghai was pulsing with excitement, entertainment,and danger.

What a time to be alive - Shanghai in the 1930's. Susan Blumberg-Kason transports the reader through her extensively researched book about Bernadine Szold Fritz, and honors the woman of many contradictions by telling her story. A twice divorced mother of a daughter she rarely sees, Bernadine is simultaneously a modern, independent career-minded woman, as well as deeply reliant on her partner for whom she moved to Shanghai to marry. Bernadine's husband, having lived for many years and traveled extensively in China where he started a very successful and lucrative company, served as her introduction to the world of arts, intelligentsia and scholars in Shanghai. Bernadine was magnetic and bold as she combined those contacts with her own friends, family and travelers passing through Shanghai to create a stimulating salon and contribute significantly to the arts scene, particularly as it relates to staging traditional Chinese theater with a Western sensibility in production. This was a fascinating read!

Shanghai in the 1930s. After marrying a Shanghai businessman, Bernardine Szold Fritz settles in the city and soon becomes the linchpin of local society. International artists, business people and politicians meet in her salon. She deliberately mixes people with western and eastern backgrounds. The book provides an exciting insight into Shanghai's salon culture during its heyday. Countless celebrities walked in and out of Bernardine's salon, inspiring and influencing one another. Bernardine's personal life is also entertaining and lively to read. All in all, an exciting testimony of an unusual woman in a thriving city that was cosmopolitan and extremely international at the time.

Fascinating book that takes a good look at the vibrant social and international scene in 1930s Shanghai, before the war with the Japanese and WWII. Bernardine Szold marries the Shanghai businessman Chester Fritz and settles in the city, forming a salon to which she invites famous American and European and Chinese writers, poets, actors, businessmen, and Chinese politicians. She is intent on mixing East and West and having them meet and mingle at her salon get togethers.

I loved reading about the atmosphere and the people who lived in and visited Shanghai in the 1930s. Names of salon visitors people the book, like Vidal Sassoon, Pearl Buck, Charley Chaplin, Emily Hahn, and local writers Sinmay Zau and Lin Yutang, as well as American actress, Anna May Wong. It was intriguing that Bernardine tried to and succeeded in meshing all the variety of people, East and West, during the time she ran her famous parties at her salon.

I was also intrigued by Bernardine's personal life, a sad one with a semi estranged daughter Rosemary, and a possessive and jealous fourth husband, Chester. The men she met and married seemed to be less than honorable and not very good as husbands. Chester seemed to have serious personality problems in his relationship with Bernardine and her daughter Rosemary.

I came away with a clearer idea of that glittering period in Shanghai, when refugees fleeing Germany, Russia, Japan and other volatile countries found safety in that city, at least for a while. The ending of that period is well described in the book as well.

I heartily recommend this biography of Bernardine Szold Fritz as well researched and documented, and excellently written. It is an excellent contribution to the history of that time in Shanghai.

Fascinating biography of an extremely unusual woman (that always produces the best stories). Bernardine Szold Fritz -- A Jewish woman transplanted to Shanghai to marry her fourth husband in the early 1920s. Plenty of well researched history on a level not easily found in history books. Sometimes a little slow, depending on what is personally fascinating to the reader.

Bernardine's Shanghai Salon is a fascinating, well-researched biography of Bernardine Szold Fritz, a Jewish woman who moved to Shanghai to marry her 4th husband Chester Fritz. Bernardine was a dynamic woman ahead of her time. As her relationship with Chester devolved, Bernardine developed a vast social network traveling around the world, meeting celebrities of the time and founding an International Arts Theater with boundary pushing performances and exhibits.

From a previous marriage, Bernardine has a daughter named Rosemary and this problematic relationship is explored throughout the book.

I recommend this book although at times it was a little slow. Nonetheless, I really enjoyed experiencing Bernardine's great adventures through reading this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Post Hill Press for an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Susan Blumberg-Kason’s newest book just took me on a journey through the life of Bernardine Szold Fritz and it was quite the journey.

I had never heard of Bernardine until I saw social media posts regarding Susan’s book. China in the 1930s and 1940s when so much was happening in the world and in Europe immediately got my attention.

It was fascinating to read about Bernardine making a life for herself in Shanghai after marrying Chester Fritz. The cast of characters in her life were equally as fascinating as she was.

Susan’s research is evident in how well this story flowed. It reads like a fictional story with amazing descriptions of settings and people. I enjoyed this walk through history and Bernardine’s story. Be sure to read the footnotes for some fascinating facts and tidbits from the author’s research.

Thank you to Post Hill Press for the copy of this book. All views are my honest opinion.