The Portrait of a Lady Chapter 44

In which the Countess Gemini, wearied by the dullness of her Florentine existence and envious of her sister-in-law Isabel’s life in Rome, prepares to visit Palazzo Roccanera under constraints, whilst encountering the pragmatic and observant journalist Henrietta Stackpole, who is intent on probing the fortunes of Isabel and her marriage. Across their poignant and candid conversations in Florence’s artistic haunts, the complexities of loyalty, social ambition, and uneasy alliances are delicately unveiled as preparations are made for their journeys to Rome.