Some years ago I read a book and have forgotten the author’s name and title of the book. But I remember much of the plot, and was wondering if someone could help.
The story is told in the first person by a late high school aged girl. Her parents are dead and she has been raised by her grandfather. She is excited about going to a school dance, but she and her grandfather are a little out of touch. She wears fairly formal clothes and embarrassed when all the other girls are in little short skirts and a lot of makeup. Grandpa( a professional musician) realizes his mistake, and sends girl off to Italy to stay with a former acquaintance, a contessa of some sort, saying “she can teach you what I can’t” Said contessa is a born schemer, a stuck up society snob. A lot of conniving, conspiring, and scandalous goings on occur(it’s all comic BTW) and finally the girl comes home. One phrase in the book that is significant is “brutta figura” which seems to be related to loss of face, or an embarassing situation. In any event the contessa never wants to make a “brutta figura” I think the word Roman is in the title of the book, but am not sure. I’ve tried various combinations of title words to locate this work, but can’t. Can anyone out there help me?