Berlinski is a journalist who lives in Istanbul. She is the author of Menace in Europe: Why the Continent’s Crisis Is America’s, Too, and There Is No Alternative: Why Margaret Thatcher Matters.

Mischa Berlinski’s shrewd comic novel finds a veteran actress reconnecting with her deposed mentor while facing the challenge of playing Cleopatra. By Laura Collins-Hughes Laura Collins-Hughes ...

The somewhat un-PC compliment that keeps coming out of my mouth when I tell friends about Mischa Berlinski’s third novel, “Mona Acts Out,” is that I can’t believe it was written by a man!

And there’s the dilemma—one of many in Mischa Berlinski’s witty, mournful novel “Mona Acts Out”: Six opioids will likely be insufficient to get Mona through this particular day.

In Mischa Berlinski’s extravagantly brilliant and darkly funny new novel, “Mona Acts Out,” the eponymous heroine does just that. Mona Zahid, a celebrated stage actor, has a lot on her mind.

Claire Berlinski is a City Journal contributing editor, a freelance investigative journalist, travel writer, biographer, and novelist who lives in Istanbul. She is the author of Menace in Europe: Why ...