In most books about Alma Mahler-Werfel, the male perspective dominates: Alma as a seductive nymph, Alma as a delusional woman. This new biography, however, presents a different woman. A woman who engaged in lively exchanges of ideas with numerous composers, conductors, artists, and writers, inspiring, supporting, and accompanying them. An extraordinary woman who shaped culture and found the strength to continue living amidst the turmoil of the 20th century. The life of Alma Mahler-Werfel was a dance alongside famous men. She was a master at listening, seeing, and reading, and a muse full of energy and empathy. At the piano and while composing, she participated in the emergence of the 20th century. From Vienna, she journeyed to the New World with Gustav Mahler. She accompanied her later husband, Franz Werfel, into exile. Susanne Rode-Breymann constructs this narrative based on her own research.