Best known for her passionate epistolary relationship with Franz Kafka, Czech writer Milena Jesenka (1896-1944) was an important cultural figure in her own right: she was a perceptive journalist who colorfully captured the keyed-up atmosphere of Vienna and her native Prague during the 1920s and "30s; a powerful spokesperson for Czech nationalism; and a fearless antifascist who helped Jews escape from Nazi-occupied Prague. This thoughtful biography restores the strongminded, intelligent Jesenka to her proper stature as a humane voice in the ethically slippery world of Central European politics.