Capote’s Women

This book was amazing and such a fun listen. I have always been especially drawn to/captivated by mid-century glamour… style icons like Babe Paley and C.Z. Guest… the sort of lives Slim Aarons photographed. This book was a (sometimes ruthless and brutal) look into their world, with Truman Capote at its center. It was really fun to listen to, and felt like fiction at times. I found the chapters on Lee Radziwill particularly salacious. For years, Capote struggled to write his (never published) final novel, Answered Prayers, a thinly veiled work of “fiction” that documented the dark secrets behind his group of female friends (which he called his swans). Ultimately, when he published a few chapters of the book in Esquire magazine, it cost him his friendships. The swans almost immediately banished him from their high-society world and he was left a social pariah. In this book, Laurence Leamer re-creates the world of the swans (Barbara “Babe” Paley, Gloria Guinness, Marella Agnelli, Slim Hayward, Pamela Churchill, C. Z. Guest, Lee Radziwill (Jackie Kennedy’s sister) – their secrets, relationships, and friendships… with Truman at the heart of the novel. It’s absolutely fascinating. I learned a lot and was also entertained throughout. Order on Amazon.com or Bookshop.org.