The Rome Affair
by Karen Swan
1974 and Elena Damiani lives a gilded life. Born to wealth and a noted beauty, no door is closed to her, no man can resist her. At twenty-six, she is already onto her third husband when she meets her love match. But he is the one man she can never have, and all the beauty and money in the world can't change it.
2017 and Francesca Hackett is living la dolce vita in Rome, leading tourist groups around the Eternal City and forgetting the ghosts she left behind in London. When she finds a stolen designer handbag in her dustbin and returns it, she is brought into the orbit of her grand neighbour who lives across the piazza - famed socialite Viscontessa Elena dei Damiani Pignatelli della Mirandola. Though the purse is stolen, Elena greets the return of the bag with exultation for it contains an unopened letter written by her husband on his deathbed, twelve years earlier.
Mutually intrigued by each other, the two women agree to collaborate on a project, with Cesca interviewing Elena for her memoirs. As summer unfurls, Elena tells her sensational stories, leaving Cesca in her thrall. But when a priceless diamond ring found in an ancient tunnel below the city streets is ascribed to Elena, Cesca begins to suspect a shocking secret at the heart of Elena's life.
I started this once before, back in 2018, but fell off it somehow, always intending to get back to it but never managing it. So on my vacation this summer, I thought it would be a great time to start over. I honestly didn’t remember anything other than the broad strokes of the plot: Girl interviews rich old lady for a memoir. The few details I thought I remembered all turned out to be wrong.
The plot is basically about Cesca — Francesca — who, just out of a job, is asked to write the memoir of the old lady who lives in the palazzo across the piazza: Viscontessa Elena. Whilst we get to read the true accounts of Elena’s rather tragic life, Cesca gets a rather beautified version from the Viscontessa. But Cesca senses that she’s not getting the full story, and tries to puzzle everything together.
Meanwhile, there’s a rather meh romance sub-plot with an asshole who’s working to map and secure a sinkhole that’s appeared in the palazzo’s garden.
I’ve honestly got zero feelings about Cesca and Nico, but the romance really isn’t why we’re here, is it? It’s the mystery and drama both surrounding Elena’s past, as well as a big secret in Cesca’s own past…
Swan does a fantastic job introducing both the characters and the setting. From the very beginning, I had a vivid picture of Cesca, Elena, the palazzo, and the surrounding neighbourhood. Even the side characters quickly feel distinct, and the whole place comes alive through Swan's descriptions. It's beautifully written, and incredibly immersive.
One thing I especially appreciated was how Swan chose to tell the story. Rather than having Elena simply recount her past during the interviews — which was what I expected going in — we get two parallel narratives. We witness Elena's past as it actually happened, while watching Cesca receive a carefully polished, heavily edited version during their interviews. I actually enjoyed that approach far more than a straightforward flashback structure. It lets us see Elena lying outright while Cesca has to piece together the truth from contradictions and comments made by everyone around her, making the mystery much more engaging.
What drew me in the most was obviously Elena’s story itself. Starting on the very first page, with the prologue about an unknown man returning home to find his wife gone, and her ring left behind along with a note. He immediately rushes after her.
It immediately captivated me, both with the intriguing plot, as well as being super well written. It really set the scene and tone of the book. Beautiful.
The prologue takes place in 1989. We then rewind to 1961 and get to see her first three marriages (the first at 16!!!), that all ended tragically, before finally getting to the big mystery of her fourth and final marriage. Most of her life was a misery, and reading about her asshole husbands and people generally treating her like shit her whole life was honestly horrible and super fucking upsetting. The line “the luckiest girl in the world” kept getting thrown around, and after a while it almost made me sick. In fact, I had to put the book down at page 177, after getting punched by the line “Always one of the lucky ones”. Fuck me.
So I was 100% on Elena’s side up until her 4th marriage, when all of a sudden she was being the asshole. I had really high hopes for them, because I recognized the man’s name: Vito. I was a bit confused at first, because it had been off-handedly mentioned that Elena was married 7 times, and I was trying to figure out how she was his widow if it was only marriage four (re-married an ex?) — but it turned out the “7” was just an exaggeration, and there were only 4 marriages after all.
While I guess you can’t control these things, Vito was soo good to her, and I hate love triangles — but jeez, the brother? Elena! Get your shit together!
Meanwhile, in the present, Cesca deals with her own asshole, Nico (no, let’s not equate him with Elena’s husbands, he was just unnecessarily rude), Elena’s lies, and odd comments from Elena’s friends and the neighbours — all leading up to the greatest plot twist I’ve read in A WHILE.
Honestly, I kept waiting for Elena to change her mind and tell Cesca the truth, or maybe that the book would end with her gifting Cesca her diaries after her death. Instead, we learn that Elena was the one being fooled — for 13 years! And for another 15 years after Vito’s death, she never learned the truth.
I always knew that Cesca’s secret wouldn’t be that bad — and whilst obviously a massive, life-changing event for her, I wasn’t in the least surprised when it was finally revealed. As opposed to Elena’s twist! Man, I did not see that one coming! At least playing out as it did — I had a few theories, but NOT THAT. I thought I had the book figured out. It’s been a long time since I felt like I got bitch-slapped by a book. Soo good, soo fun!
We were told early on that Vito (Elena’s husband) died 15 years earlier (2002, since the book is set in 2017) and that his brother Aurelio died in 1989. Then the mystery became, was it really Aurelio that died in ‘89? Or did he take his twin’s place to be with Elena?
So here’s the biggest spoiler of your life: It WAS Vito that survived, and he remained Vito to everyone else — except to Elena. He pretended to be his own brother pretending to be him for 13 years! All to keep his wife: partly because he loved her despite her loving the brother, and wanted her to be happy — and partly to keep her from divorcing him and taking their son with her.
I’m still reeling. I DID think (I swear!) that it might have been V down there in the tunnel — I got nervous when she called Aurelio’s name and kissed him without getting a response. But then the lack of a response also made me dismiss the suspicion. I didn’t think Vito knew that early, or that he wouldn’t confront them after finding out. I guess the only reason he didn’t was that she never actually made it to Aurelio’s bed.
I absolutely loved how the scene where he finally did confront them tied back to the prologue. It was so perfect. When I first read the prologue, I naturally thought Elena had just left her husband. I never imagined Vito would be running to stop her from fucking his brother. I had to go back and re-read the prologue immediately after finishing that scene.
I’m actually stunned. I thought I had this book figured out.
I REALLY didn’t.
⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 🌶️
~🖤~ FAVOURITE QUOTES ~🖤~ |
“To open it would end the conversation somehow.” |
They had become a part of her now, another shadow stitched to her heels and trailing her through the sunlight and the snow. |
Always one of the lucky ones. |
He ran through the rain towards the lightning that was trying, with every jagged stab, to split open the earth. |
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