From her many love affairs and marriages to such stars as Mickey Rooney and Frank Sinatra, to her ever-evolving physical beauty, to the many aspects of her true personality that often caused her to rebel against the norm and behave in ways that caught the eyes of the camera, and public, off guard, this is a complete chronology of her life, accompanied by dozens of photographs both candid and posed that reveal a star of mythological proportions. We follow her meteoric career from its dawn to its zenith of success, and then to its decline as an aging Ava struggled to maintain her career, and her dignity.

Film director Gilles Dagneau (with editing and translation by Sandra Eiko Tokunaga) pays homage to Ms. Gardner with honesty, respect and a bit of wild rebelliousness, showing all sides of a woman many viewed as just a beautiful sex object, or a glamorous movie queen. We get so many insights and glimpses into the world of movie-making, and all that it entails, and we really get an understanding of Ava's often quirky behavior as she deals with the differing worlds on and off the movie set. We also see Ava through the eyes of the many famous directors, producers and stars she worked with, and how her charismatic presence effected them. We learn what she was paid for many of her films, about her wardrobes, the history behind the roles she played and the directors she was molded by, her many tumultuous love affairs and the hearts she left shattered in her wake, and her strong views on life that often colored her on-set and off-set actions in ways that made her both wild yet innocent, vulnerable yet tough as nails.

The book is divided into sections of Ava's life, from her early days as a movie-set novice, to the dawn of her true career rise in the late 1940's, to the height of her radiance in the fifties, and through the waning and sunset of her career, and life, through the sixties and into the 1980's. There is also a detailed filmography of Ava's great body of film work, and suggested reading list.

Readers who thought they knew "the Barefoot Contessa" will no doubt learn so much more about the woman and her work, and those who never knew her will be entranced and highly entertained. The stunning photos include set shots, posed movie stills, personal snapshots, and tons of behind the scenes pictures most folks have never seen before. In fact, the photos tell just as thrilling a story as the rich and detailed text does.

"AVA GARDNER: Beautiful, Wild, Innocent," is such a glorious celebration of the life of one of our greatest movie stars, but also of an era of entertainment that has long since died - a time when the stars on the movie set not only rivaled those in the sky, but often outshined them.

MARIE JONES, Book Reviewer, BookIdeas.com