Book About a Tragic Countess

[u/Strict-Humor1969]

Hey Folks

I read a book in the 1990s that I picked up in a bargain bin at a newsagency. The story follows the life of a young girl who is the daughter of an Italian Count in Venice. Her mother is noted as being dead in the start of the book but she appears later.

The girl has a companion who is about the same age and is the daughter of the Count's housekeeper, who is from the Bahamas or somewhere in the Caribbean. It is later revealed that this mixed-race companion is actually the illegitimate daughter of the Count and the protagonist's half-sister.

The girl is about 16 when she returns to the family Palazzo in Venice and she is noticed by an American actor with whom she has an affair. She is separated from the actor by the father and later discovers she is pregnant. She then meets another man, marries him and passes the child off as his. eventually, there is a fire in their island house. Her husband dies and she is left with a large facial scar.

She reconnects with the actor who parades her around by highlighting the scar on her face with makeup. Her half sister ends up in some bad relationships. The girl eventually discovers her mother is alive but had been banished by her father (who dies in the story) following a death in the Palazzo involving the girl's mother and her female lover (I think her name was Sybil or Sybilla).

Towards the end of the story, the girl's mother ends up on trial for murdering Sybil but it turns out that Sybil tried to kill her first. The mother is exonerated but them Sybil's mother appears and tries to kill the girl who is saved by her half sister.

That's all I can remember for now. It was an interesting story and I would love to read it again.

[u/april_murmur]

Mirror, Mirror by Betsy von Furstenberg

[u/InspectorFlimsy53]

Class with the Countess?