Bianca Barrett, the protagonist and daughter of a Welsh Surveyor and his Palestinian wife, becomes an "ambitious and mercenary" social climber and double murderess.

When their relationship sours, the banker dies with his nurse in a mysterious fire in his apartment in the tax haven of Andorra.

[3] 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] 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.

[1][3] With changes described as minor, but legally important[5] – for instance, Barret now grows up in Mexico (not South America), her mother is Palestinian (Arab, not Jewish), and her last husband Iraqi (not Lebanese) – this edition still preserved story, plot, incidents, and dialogue elements.