NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The author of The Aviator’s Wife returns with a triumphant new novel about New York’s “Swans” of the 1950s—and the scandalous, headline-making, and enthralling friendship between literary legend Truman Capote and peerless socialite Babe Paley.People’s Book of the Week • USA Today’s #1 “New and Noteworthy” Book • Entertainment Weekly’s Must List • LibraryReads Top Ten … Entertainment Weekly’s Must List • LibraryReads Top Ten Pick
Of all the glamorous stars of New York high society, none blazes brighter than Babe Paley. Her flawless face regularly graces the pages of Vogue, and she is celebrated and adored for her ineffable style and exquisite taste, especially among her friends—the alluring socialite Swans Slim Keith, C. Z. Guest, Gloria Guinness, and Pamela Churchill. By all appearances, Babe has it all: money, beauty, glamour, jewels, influential friends, a prestigious husband, and gorgeous homes. But beneath this elegantly composed exterior dwells a passionate woman—a woman desperately longing for true love and connection.
Enter Truman Capote. This diminutive golden-haired genius with a larger-than-life personality explodes onto the scene, setting Babe and her circle of Swans aflutter. Through Babe, Truman gains an unlikely entrée into the enviable lives of Manhattan’s elite, along with unparalleled access to the scandal and gossip of Babe’s powerful circle. Sure of the loyalty of the man she calls “True Heart,” Babe never imagines the destruction Truman will leave in his wake. But once a storyteller, always a storyteller—even when the stories aren’t his to tell.
Truman’s fame is at its peak when such notable celebrities as Frank and Mia Sinatra, Lauren Bacall, and Rose Kennedy converge on his glittering Black and White Ball. But all too soon, he’ll ignite a literary scandal whose repercussions echo through the years. The Swans of Fifth Avenue will seduce and startle readers as it opens the door onto one of America’s most sumptuous eras.
Praise for The Swans of Fifth Avenue
“Exceptional storytelling . . . teeming with scandal, gossip and excitement.”—Harper’s Bazaar
“This moving fictionalization brings the whole cast of characters back to vivid life. Gossipy and fun, it’s also a nuanced look at the beauty and cruelty of a rarefied, bygone world.”—People
“The era and the sordid details come back to life in this jewel of a novel.”—O: The Oprah Magazine
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Showed that glamorous famous people are not without problems and flaws.
A very sad tale of the “haves” in NYC society as seen by a fictional Truman Capote. Real names, can’t tell fact from fiction. So if you like gossip this is the dish.
It was only ok. Got bored with the characters mid-way
The Swans are a wonderful bunch, no doubt.
I have read and enjoyed so many of Melanie Benjamin’s books now that I never doubted I would read – and like – The Swans of Fifth Avenue. What was different about this book from her previous works, at least for me, is that I was previously unfamiliar with Babe Paley (as opposed to the Lindberghs, for example), and remained completely disinterested in her (unlike Mrs. Tom Thumb, for instance).
Swans is Benjamin’s recreation of Truman Capote’s friendship with – and ultimately betrayal of – Bill and Babe Paley circa mid-nineteenth century. I found Bill Paley, founder and chairman of CBS, to be the most interesting character. Benjamin’s portrayal of Capote made me dislike him immensely. I should add that what I knew about Capote previously can be summed up by the following: from Alabama, related to Harper Lee, author of In Cold Blood, gay. Certainly Benjamin colors in this portrait more completely; I just didn’t care for him.
The most wonderful attribute of the book is Benjamin’s writing. Her language is beautiful, her sentences well designed, her paragraphs a delight to read. It is rare that I have the pleasure of reading such marvelously crafted words from the opening page to the closing one. Although I can’t recommend Swans as heartily as either Alice I Have Been or The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb, it is a very good read and the hesitation on my part stems entirely from my previously mentioned disinterest in the characters rather than Benjamin’s work.
(This review was originally published at http://www.thisyearinbooks.com/2016/06/the-swans-of-fifth-avenue.html)
It took me days to read the first chapter since I was busy looking up all of the characters and learning more about them and thier lives. Then it took me just hours to finish the rest of the book–what a sad and fascinating story.
I lied this book. I’m pretty sure it was all true even though it was written as fiction. Truman Capote was a real corker!
Very well written historical novel about an engaging time in NY society.
I was so interested in the characters and events that I was compelled to pull them up online in articles in the New Yorker and Vanity Fair.
A very entertaining, and ultimately a bit sad novelization of the exceedingly juicy Truman Capote/ Babe Paley blowup in the early Seventies.
I wasn’t interested in the 1960s version of gossip girl. I had to stop reading about 25% into the book.
A more useless pack of parasites I have never encountered in a “novel” based on real people. These women are trailer trash with money…prostitutes who married their “Johns”. I cannot recommend that anyone read this trashy piece.
Insider view of the privileged few.
Just a fun read. Very different from most books I’ve read. Some humour, some sadness, some reality
Didn’t like the slowness
Surprised how engrossing this book was.
Insiders view of posh New York upper East siders!
I absolutely loved and tore through this book. The way it was written is so original and I felt, at times, I was right there on 5th Avenue with Babe Paley and Slim Keith. Truman was a sad little man…. If you have any interest at all in NY Society back then, read this immediately.
Interesting look at Truman Capote and NY high society life
Very entertaining book.
did not keep my interest but I learned a lot about Truman Capote