First published 2021
Laurence Leamer examines the toxic relationship between Truman Capote and his circle of wealthy female friends in 1960s and 1970s New York. After his successes with Breakfast at Tiffany's and In Cold Blood, Capote cultivated intimate friendships with women like Babe Paley, Gloria Guinness, and Lee Radziwill. He collected their secrets and scandals while struggling with writer's block. Capote decided to transform their private lives into his next novel, Answered Prayers, which he believed would become his greatest work. When he published excerpts in Esquire magazine, the thinly disguised portrayals exposed his friends' most damaging secrets to the public. The betrayal destroyed his relationships and expelled him from high society forever. Leamer reconstructs the personalities and dynamics of these remarkable women, their trust in Capote, and his catastrophic decision to exploit that trust for literary ambition.
Genres: biography, literary-fiction, 20th-century, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: betrayal, toxic-relationship
Setting: New York
Period: 1960s, 1970s
356 pages · Hardcover · G. P. Putnam's Sons