Always Room at the Top, Signed by Ganna Walska
[Signed] Walska, Ganna. Always Room at the Top. First Edition. 1943. Book is in very good minus condition; dust jacket is in very good condition. Book is inscribed, “To Joseph Edelman, with blessings, Ganna Walska.”
Ambition often trumps ability, as was the case with the author of this uncommon autobiography, Ganna Walska. She notes, “Man is born into bondage and given a life in which to find his way out.” Ganna possessed the iron will necessary to do exactly that. Over the course of her remarkable life, she married a succession of wealthy husbands, pursued an operatic career despite widespread skepticism about her abilities, and repeatedly reinvented herself whenever circumstances demanded it. At the time of this book, she had only recently discovered California, but it, rather than the stage, would become her path to immortality. Her Montecito estate, Lotusland, remains one of the world’s great botanical gardens and the achievement for which she is best remembered today.
“Napoleon’s power consisted in his lack of sensitivity, whereas I am full of it down to my smallest nerve and tiniest muscle.”
--Ganna Walska