The sterile, lemon-scented air of the hospital corridor seemed to curdle around Linsy Helwart. She stood frozen, her hand still gripping the handle of the paper bag containing the carefully selected, bland chicken consommé and steamed vegetables she had bought for Michael. Through the sliver of the partially open door, the scene within was a perfectly composed portrait of intimacy, each detail a shard of glass in her heart.

Violet Bento, the actress known to the world as Mansa, was a vision of ...