Empress Bianca

Empress Bianca, the first novel by Lady Colin Campbell, was initially published in June 2005.^[1] One month later, Arcadia Books Ltd, the British publisher, withdrew the book and pulped all unsold copies in reaction to a legal threat initiated on behalf of Lily Safra under her interpretation that the book was a defamatory roman à clef. After some changes the book was republished in the United States in 2008 by Dynasty Press.

Plot

Bianca Barrett, the protagonist and daughter of a Welsh Surveyor and his Palestinian wife, becomes an "ambitious and mercenary" social climber and double murderess. Charming and well educated, Bianca marries four times and advances in wealth and social influence. With Bernardo, her first husband, Bianca has three children; they lose their son in a tragic car accident. After a divorce, she marries the rich Fredie whose family owns the Piedraplata commercial empire. Before it comes to a divorce, the second husband is shot and killed by a hitman who makes it look like a suicide. The killing is arranged by her lover, Phillipe Mahfud, and Bianca becomes the financial beneficiary. After a brief marriage to husband number three, – she had married him only to make Mahfud jealous-, she lastly marries Mahfud, a superrich Iraqi businessman and banker. When their relationship sours, the banker dies with his nurse in a mysterious fire in his apartment in the tax haven of Andorra. Bianca's lawyers pay off the police and investigators, and the only justice that remains is in the court of public opinion.

Pulping of first release

In July 2005, Lily Safra claimed that her life had been "stolen" by the book^[2] and had her lawyer, Anthony Julius, demand that the publisher should recall the book and destroy the copies.^[3] Julius' letter indicated that Safra "regarded the book as defamatory".^[4] As English defamation law puts the burden of proof on the defendant, Arcadia Books complied indicating that they were too small a company to fight the looming legal battle.^[2] Copies already in circulation became valuable collector's items.^[5] The author, however, denied that she had used Safra's life as a template and claimed that it was based on characters of her own family, including her cousin Blanche, a double murderess.^[6] A countersuit ensued with Lady Campbell demanding compensation for lost income. She did not prevail.^[1] She was, however, able to rerelease the book in the United States after addressing the 17 specific issues^[1] that had been seen as pointing to Safra.^[4] With changes described as minor but legally important^[7] – for instance, Barret now growing up in Mexico (not South America), her mother is Palestinian (not Jewish), and her last husband Iraqi (not Lebanese) – the book was published a second time preserving story, plot, incidents, and dialogue in 2008.^[8]

Elin Nordegren

The book has been cited as having affected Elin Nordegren, as Nordegren appears concerned on reading how children can be cut off from the wealth of a divorcing parent, in her case Tiger Woods.^[9]

References