Artist and Model (The Divorced Princess)

The narrative follows Lise Barineff, a former actress who becomes a princess through marriage yet arouses scandal, and her passionate, destructive affair with Paul Meyrin that leads to public inquiry and divorce; subsequent sections shift to Vera Soublaieff and to scenes in an artist's Paris studio where motherhood, rivalry, revenge, and the fragile ties of marriage and separation are explored; through interwoven personal histories and courtroom drama the work examines social hypocrisy, erotic temptation, artists' lives, and the consequences of abandonment and rivalry among women.