The works of Elsa Triolet, a Russian-born French novelist and essayist, vary from critical essays on the theater and translations of Russian poetry, plays, and novels into French to novels of fanciful soul searching; of love and death; of loneliness in the middle of the crowd; of high-flying ideals and coldly calculating political and financial scheming. Her books first found acceptance in France, then in translation throughout the world.

Born Elsa Kagan, the daughter of Yuri Kagan, a lawyer specializing in contracts for artists and writers, and Helena Youlievna Berman, a pianist, Triolet studied architecture at the Lycée Valitzki in her native Moscow and earned her diploma in that field. An older sister, Lili, was married in 1912 to Ossip Brik, a lawyer and literary critic. The poet Vladimir Mayakovski courted both sisters; he became Lili's lover and a lifelong friend and inspiration to Elsa. Her friends...