The Rome Affair

by Karen Swan

  I am not sorry. How can I be when it gave us our boy? He is the one from whom we must beg forgiveness, for he is the only innocent in this affair. Perhaps one day, many years from now when he is a man, he will look into his heart and see what a high price we have paid for our love. His forgiveness may yet come, as I hope will yours.

  Love strong and protect him,

  Your loving husband, Vito

  Epilogue II

  Rome, October 2017

  ‘You call that a carbonara?’ Guido asked in outrage as Cesca set down the piping hot dish.

  ‘I most certainly do,’ she said defiantly.

  ‘But it has onions in it! And where is the egg?’

  ‘Egg?’ Cesca cried. ‘Don’t be crazy, man. I’m not putting a fried egg on top of this. It’s not breakfast, you know.’

  ‘Fried?’ Guido almost fell off his chair as the others fell about laughing at her joke.

  ‘This is how we do it in England, which as you well know is not only the birthplace to chicken tikka masala but also the home of carbonara.’ Even Guido laughed as she plated it up and set his down in front of him, kissing his cheek.

  ‘Actually, it tastes good,’ Matteo said, practically falling into his, as ever. ‘I mean, even though it is not authentic.’

  ‘Talking of authentic, what’s going on with you and the gallery assistant with the fake boobs?’ Alé asked, passing him the pepper.

  Matteo rolled his eyes and shook his head, twirling his index finger next to his temple. ‘Crazy.’

  ‘She couldn’t be as crazy as Cesca’s outfit, surely?’ Guido asked.

  ‘Hey! You leave my outfit out of this,’ Cesca chided. ‘I’ll have you know dungarees are perfectly legitimate items of clothing.’

  ‘Not when they are yellow cord and worn by anyone out of diapers, they’re not,’ he quipped.

  Everyone laughed and she flicked a pea at him.

  ‘Exactly!’ Matteo grinned. ‘She was that crazy! I had to get out of there. Next!’

  ‘You have got commitment issues, Matteo,’ Alé tutted. ‘Honestly, you worry me. You need to settle down.’

  ‘Like you, you mean?’

  ‘Excuse me. I am down to the bartender at Zoo and the geography teacher.’

  ‘How will you choose?’ Guido asked, pulling a pained expression. ‘Toss a coin?’

  Alé shrugged. ‘That is definitely an option,’ she winked as Cesca handed her a heaped plate.

  ‘The geography teacher? Wow!’ Cesca grinned. ‘You didn’t waste any time in the new job then.’

  ‘Well, unlike you, some of us don’t live to work,’ Alé quipped. ‘We work to date.’

  Cesca nodded. ‘Ah. So that’s where I’ve been going wrong. Silly me!’

  It was true, though, she reflected: she had been working almost flat out for the past month. Her fledgling consultancy – offering online pro bono legal advice to UK families below a certain income threshold, and taking a commission from the lawyers she referred them on to – was already beginning to make small ripples in the legal pool back home, with the number of enquiries growing every week. And the blog had been demanding more of her attention ever since the photo of her with Elena at the Bulgari party had been published. Several publications had featured it in their acres of coverage devoted to Elena’s death, and as a result the number of her subscribers had sky-rocketed to 200,000, almost overnight. She hadn’t needed the diary extracts for her exclusive after all, which was probably just as well, in hindsight.

  The past month had been a whole heap of madness. Elena’s death had been a major international news story, with hordes of reporters camping out at the steps of the palace, all desperate for a quote from Giotto about his extraordinary mother and her incredible, at one time scandalous life. Naturally, he gave them nothing of use – a Romano di Roma, discretion was in his blood. Although several people (Christina and Signora Dutti, for example) knew some of Elena’s secrets, they had no context for her actions, which otherwise appeared iniquitous, and she remained as much an enigma to them as to the world at large. Cesca, though, had found the singular artery that had defined Elena’s life – a love so great, all three of its players had put bombs under their own lives to protect it – and only she and Giotto knew Elena’s story in the round. And that was how it would remain: Cesca’s silence assured with a simple hand-shake, the manuscript already burnt.

  Giotto had read it through twice before putting it in the flames. It had been a shock for him to come to terms with the fact that – after almost a lifetime of questions about his father – it had turned out to be his mother that he’d never really known. Every evening for two weeks, Cesca and Giotto had sat together, talking over his mother’s final months, listening to her taped interviews and going through those same photographs she had discussed in their many meetings over the summer.

  Before Cesca had left Palazzo Mirandola for the final time, Giotto had led her into Elena’s vault and, as per the wishes in Elena’s will, invited her to choose a piece of jewellery, any one at all. Although shocked, Cesca hadn’t hesitated, selecting the pale-pink opal necklace. Of course, it was by far the most modest of the jewels, but it had also been Elena’s favourite – and not to mention, it was the only piece Cesca would ever be likely to wear for, like Elena, she didn’t believe in ‘Sunday Best’ either.

  ‘Actually, strictly speaking, your relationship started as a work romance too,’ Guido pointed out, pulling her back to the present again, just as the church bells in the distance rang out of time with one another, a flock of starlings swooping in the darkening sky. Though it was a clear evening, there was a distinct chill in the air and it would soon be too cold for evening suppers on the terrace. The world was continuing to turn. ‘Wouldn’t you agree, Nico?’

  Nico, sitting beside her, amused as ever by the banter around the table, swept her up in his gaze as his eyes rose to meet hers. ‘Well, of course. It is the classic love story,’ he deadpanned. ‘Boy goes to work. Boy meets girl in mad clothes. Boy falls for girl in mad clothes.’

  ‘Oi.’ Everyone guffawed as Cesca punched him lightly on the arm, and he pulled her down onto his lap, kissing her to their cheers.

  ‘Ah, poor Cesca, it must be terrible to be such a cliché,’ Guido teased her.

  ‘I am not a cliché!’ she gasped in mock-indignation.

  ‘Oh, but you are. You used to love this city for its . . . what was it? “Amber light and sparrows”? You had poetry in your soul!’ His eyes danced. ‘But now look – you are like all the other girls who come to Rome and fall for our tall, dark, handsome men.’

  Cesca couldn’t think of a rejoinder. She’d been busted. It was the truth, the whole truth and nothing but.

  ‘Yes, well,’ she grinned, staring into Nico’s dark, direct, dancing eyes. ‘. . . Have you seen him in a suit?’

  Acknowledgements

  Often, the biggest dilemma for a writer isn’t actually coming up with what the story is about, but deciding how to tell it. I’d been wanting to write a split-narrative book for a couple of years but the format didn’t particularly lend itself to the plots I had in my head at the time and when I set out to write this book, I still didn’t think I could tell a ‘past and present’ story – I initially thought it would have a four-way perspective, but I found myself so drawn in by Elena and her extraordinary life that I didn’t want to lose pages to other characters when I could focus on her.

  I had read widely on the pre-eminent socialites of her age – Marella Agnelli, Lee Radziwill and Gloria Vanderbilt, among others – and even though they were all from different backgrounds and cultures (although all born into money), I was struck by the parallels in their interests, concerns, tone and social circles, and wrote lists identifying the overlaps. By the time I’d finished reading, Elena was fully-fleshed in my mind; so when I found myself at a dinner party talking to a friend who’s an identical twin, I hit upon the one thing that her money could not buy, and knew I had my ‘past/present’ story at la
st.

  I travelled to Rome for a glorious research recce – any excuse! – with the express intention of finding the palazzo and piazza that were in my head. I knew what I needed logistically speaking – an enormous palazzo fronting onto a principal square, with a smaller one off to the side – but even though I walked and walked and walked, I actually couldn’t find exactly what I wanted, so I’m afraid the Palazzo Damiani, Piazza Angelica and Piazzetta Palombella are fictitious. However, if you’re interested in the real-life elements, the bakery ‘next door’ is based upon the wonderfully old-world Biscottificio Innocenti in Trastevere and the front of Cesca’s apartment, with the steps and flowers, is inspired by the lovely little house just up the road from that (you can’t miss it). Piazza Angelica is very loosely based on Piazza Navona, but given that I stole the flower and food market from Campo de’ Fiori and plonked it in there, it’s hardly a literal representation; more an indicator of set-up and scale. I read up on various palaces in Rome but it was the Doria Pamphilj that really caught my attention – this is the palace with the papal throne facing the wall, and which has 1,000 rooms. It’s open to the public if you are ever in the city and interested in visiting. And the ice cream store where the four characters sit outside on Vespas is based on Giolitti in Via del Vicario, near the Pantheon.

  So: for this story I researched top-flight socialites and Roman palaces, the Black Nobility and speleology, and just how cunning identical twins can be (thanks Justin and Nuala!). I had a super time and writing this book was a joy, but the fact that it’s sitting in your hands right now doesn’t just come down to my input. There are so many other people who have helped get this story to you, principally my super-agent Amanda Preston, who always knows within two sentences whether or not an idea’s a book, and my unflappable editor Caroline Hogg, who gets briefs from me on everything from romantic astronauts to bad-tempered speleologists and never gets spooked!

  There’s such a huge operation in full swing behind the scenes and I owe a debt of thanks and gratitude to Jeremy Trevathan, Wayne Brookes, James Annal, Katie James, Jonathan Atkins, Stuart Dwyer, Daniel Jenkins, Anna Bond, Alex Saunders, Amy Lines, Phoebe Taylor, Claire Gatzen; and particularly my copy-editor, Kate Moore, and proofreaders, Camilla Rockwood and Mary Chamberlain, who I think probably have the trickiest jobs of all – making me make sense!

  And of course, nothing would ever get written if it weren’t for my gorgeous family coming to find me in the study when I go MIA under deadline. They bring me chocolate, tea and champagne (sometimes all at once) – but all I will ever need is them.

  PLAYERS

  by

  Karen Swan

  Friendships are strong. Lust is stronger.

  Harry Hunter is the new golden boy of the literary scene. With his books selling by the millions, the paparazzi on his tail and a supermodel on each arm, he seems to have the world at his feet. Women all over the globe adore him but few suspect that his angelic looks hide a darker side, a side that conceals a lifetime of lies and deceit.

  Tor, Cress and Kate have been best friends for as long as they can remember. Through all the challenges of marriage, raising children and maintaining their high-flying careers, they have stuck together as a powerful and loyal force to be reckoned with – living proof that twenty-first-century women can have it all, and do. It is only when the captivating Harry comes into their lives that things begin to get complicated, as the friends are drawn into Harry’s dangerous games.

  Prima

  DONNA

  by

  Karen Swan

  Breaking the rules was what she liked best.

  That was her sport.

  Renegade, rebel, bad girl. Getting away with it.

  Pia Soto is the sexy and glamorous prima ballerina, the Brazilian bombshell who’s shaking up the ballet world with her outrageous behaviour. She’s wild and precocious, and she’s a survivor. She’s determined that no man will ever control her destiny. But ruthless financier Will Silk has Pia in his sights, and has other ideas . . .

  Sophie O’Farrell is Pia’s hapless, gawky assistant, the girl-next-door to Pia’s prima donna, always either falling in love with the wrong man or just falling over. Sophie sets her own dreams aside to pick up the debris in Pia’s wake, but she’s no angel. When a devastating accident threatens to cut short Pia’s illustrious career, Sophie has to step out of the shadows and face up to the demons in her own life.

  Chirstmas at

  TIFFANY’S

  by

  Karen Swan

  Three cities, three seasons, one chance to find the life that fits.

  Cassie settled down too young, marrying her first serious boyfriend. Now, ten years later, she is betrayed and broken. With her marriage in tatters and no career or home of her own, she needs to work out where she belongs in the world and who she really is.

  So begins a year-long trial as Cassie leaves her sheltered life in rural Scotland to stay with each of her best friends in the most glamorous cities in the world: New York, Paris and London. Exchanging grouse moor and mousy hair for low-carb diets and high-end highlights, Cassie tries on each city for size as she attempts to track down the life she was supposed to have been leading, and with it, the man who was supposed to love her all along.

  The Perfect

  PRESENT

  by

  Karen Swan

  Memories are a gift . . .

  Haunted by a past she can’t escape, Laura Cunningham desires nothing more than to keep her world small and precise – her quiet relationship and growing jewellery business are all she needs to get by. Until the day when Rob Blake walks into her studio and commissions a necklace that will tell his enigmatic wife Cat’s life in charms.

  As Laura interviews Cat’s family, friends and former lovers, she steps out of her world and into theirs – a charmed world where weekends are spent in Verbier and the air is lavender-scented, where friends are wild, extravagant and jealous, and a big love has to compete with grand passions.

  Hearts are opened, secrets revealed and as the necklace begins to fill up with trinkets, Cat’s intoxicating life envelops Laura’s own. By the time she has to identify the final charm, Laura’s metamorphosis is almost complete. But the last story left to tell has the power to change all of their lives forever, and Laura is forced to choose between who she really is and who it is she wants to be.

  Chirstmas at

  CLARIDGE’S

  by

  Karen Swan

  The best presents can’t be wrapped . . .

  This was where her dreams drifted to if she didn’t blot her nights out with drink; this was where her thoughts settled if she didn’t fill her days with chat. She remembered this tiny, remote foreign village on a molecular level and the sight of it soaked into her like water into sand, because this was where her old life had ended and her new one had begun.

  Portobello – home to the world-famous street market, Notting Hill Carnival and Clem Alderton. She’s the queen of the scene, the girl everyone wants to be or be with. But beneath the morning-after make-up, Clem is keeping a secret, and when she goes too far one reckless night she endangers everything – her home, her job and even her adored brother’s love.

  Portofino – a place of wild beauty and old-school glamour. Clem has been here once before and vowed never to return. But when a handsome stranger asks Clem to restore a neglected villa, it seems like the answer to her problems – if she can just face up to her past.

  Claridge’s – at Christmas. Clem is back in London working on a special commission for London’s grandest hotel. But is this really where her heart lies?

  The

  SUMMER

  WITHOUT

  YOU

  by

  Karen Swan

  Everything will change . . .

  Rowena Tipton isn’t looking for a new life, just a new adventure; something to while away the months as her long-term boyfriend presses pause on their relationship before they become engaged. But whe
n a chance encounter at a New York wedding leads to an audition for a coveted house share in the Hamptons – Manhattan’s elite beach scene – suddenly a new life is exactly what she’s got.

  Stretching before her is a summer with three eclectic housemates, long days on white-sand ocean beaches and parties on gilded tennis courts. But high rewards bring high stakes and Rowena soon finds herself caught in the crossfire of a vicious intimidation campaign. Alone for the first time in her adult life, she has no one to turn to but a stranger who is everything she doesn’t want – but possibly everything she needs.

  Chirstmas in

  THE SNOW

  by

  Karen Swan

  In London, the snow is falling and Christmas is just around the corner – but Allegra Fisher barely has time to notice. She’s pitching for the biggest deal of her career and can’t afford to fail. When she meets attractive stranger Sam Kemp on the plane to the meeting, she can’t afford to lose her focus. But when Allegra finds herself up against Sam for the bid, their passion quickly turns sour.

  In Zermatt in the Swiss Alps, a long-lost mountain hut is discovered in the snow after sixty years. The last person expecting to become involved is Allegra – she hasn’t even heard of the woman they found inside. It soon becomes clear the two women are linked and, as she and her best friend Isobel travel out to make sense of the mystery, hearts thaw and dark secrets are uncovered . . .