The Swans Of New York

★★★★★★★☆☆☆ 7/10

335 pages

​

What’s it about?

This novel is all about Truman Capote and his relationship with the “Swans of New York”- in actuality Babe Paley, Slim Keith, C.Z. Guest, Gloria Guinness, and Pamela Churchill.   These women were the reigning queens of Manhattan’s high society in the late 1950’s and 60’s.  This is a novel about a storyteller that could not resist telling a good story.  He just never dreamed of what it would cost him.

What did it make me think about?

I read Truman Capote’s “In Cold Blood” as a young adult and was mesmerized, as most of America was.  Truman Capote was a talented writer but a tormented soul.  He certainly makes for a fascinating character in a novel.    He was a piece of work!

Should I read it?

This novel was just fun.  It was a look into a world of wealth that is beyond imaginable.  It was gossipy, sad, and interesting.

A passage I marked

“Suddenly Gloria cringed, remembering something she’d told Truman not long ago, her head muddled by the false intimacy fueled by too much champagne and not enough food.

Find this book →