October 26, 2015
In 1975, a clique of Manhattan socialites discover that literary lion Truman Capote revealed their dirtiest laundry to the world in a story published to great fanfare in Esquire—a real-life event that inspires this novel. As the women (the metaphorical swans of the novel’s title) face his perfidy, they attempt to untangle an intimacy with Capote that dates back to 1955. Though Marella Agnelli, C.Z. Guest, Gloria Guinness, Pamela Churchill Harriman, and Slim Keith all feel betrayed, it’s style icon Babe Paley who suffers most. Unconventional, brilliant, and voraciously ambitious, Capote seems an unlikely confidante for a woman celebrated solely for marrying, living, and looking well, but the loneliness and insecurity the two both hide forges a deep bond. Babe trusts “True Heart” enough to reveal shameful secrets, from her false teeth to her powerful husband’s sordid philandering; tragically, if predictably, Capote’s desperation for writing fodder proves more powerful than love. Benjamin’s (The Aviator’s Wife) fact-based narrative captures the era’s juiciest scandals and wildest extravagances, but readers expecting the sympathetic protagonists of her earlier books may be disappointed by the diffuse and chilly cast of characters here. With an unabashed delight in bitchy gossip and lavish lifestyles, the novel’s themes are sober ones: the double-edged power of telling our stories, the ways we test and punish those we love, and the psychic cost of life lived by the mantra “appearance matters most.”
December 1, 2015
Class, cliques, and cattiness converge in this New York fable based on the lives of Truman Capote and his greatest fan, Babe Paley. As it happens, Benjamin (The Aviator's Wife, 2013, etc.) puts more honey than vinegar in her rendering of the disarming palship between the openly gay author of Breakfast at Tiffany's and his much-married "Bobolink"--Barbara "Babe" Cushing Mortimer Paley, the outwardly towering, inwardly cowering Upper East Side matron he squired around town for a quarter century. A chorus of the couple's BFFs provides commentary on their history, as Benjamin spirals chirpily through the hedonistic '50s, '60s, and '70s, cherry-picking scenes of their first, chance weekend together at the Paleys' compound in Jamaica ("So many wanted to catch him at it! Watch as genius burned!"), thick as thieves over lunch at Le Cirque, or swapping confidences about their narcissistic mothers--more craved than kisses--at slumber parties in the Hamptons, all the way through to the publication of Capote's masterpiece, In Cold Blood, and his infamous Black and White masquerade ball. The event that allegedly drove them apart--when Truman mauled Babe and her set in thinly disguised print--has been raked over repeatedly by critics, filmmakers, and biographers (including Babe's friend Slim Keith--one of the Kenneth-coiffed swans alluded to in the title), so it's no surprise when the novel re-creates some iconic moments leading up to the rift: such as when Truman notices for the first time that Babe's husband--CBS executive William S. Paley--smiles "like a man who had just swallowed an entire human being." (Capote recognizes a keeper--and files it away "in his photographic memory, to be used at a later date.") The character Benjamin takes most imaginative liberty with, naturally, is Babe--the cool cucumber in Mainbocher who (the chatter went) could brush off her husband's wolfishness with practiced ease and neither bleeped a word against nor spoke to her literary pet again after he published "La Cote Basque 1965." Elegant Babe's thoughts, if not her lips, are unsealed at last. Those unaware of the scandal get CliffsNotes; and everyone else gets a chance to judge whether a swan's muteness can be more interesting than her gripe.
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Starred review from September 1, 2015
The dazzling world of the elite in 1950s and 1960s New York is the setting for this fourth novel by best-selling historical fiction author Benjamin (The Aviator's Wife). Riding high on his early literary successes, Truman Capote delights in the company of his "swans," a circle of wealthy married women attracted to both his impish charisma and his love of good gossip. Chief among these women is Barbara "Babe" Paley, the always immaculately dressed and groomed wife of CBS president William S. Paley, who allows herself to be vulnerable around Capote in a way she can never be with her powerful husband. When a desperate Capote betrays his swans by publishing their darkest secrets, friendships crumble and hearts break. VERDICT Fans of vintage New York glamour who loved books such as Amor Towles's Rules of Civility will relish this chance to experience vicariously the lives (and fashion choices!) of the city's rich and famous. Benjamin convincingly portrays a large cast of colorful historical figures while crafting a compelling, gossipy narrative with rich emotional depth. Highly recommended. [See Prepub Alert, 7/6/15.]--Mara Bandy, Champaign P.L., IL
Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
August 1, 2015
Best known for The Aviator's Wife, which dwelled on the New York Times extended best sellers list for three months, Benjamin here offers something even juicier: fiction about Truman Capote's relationship with diamond-bright Babe Paley and other high-society "swans" in 1950s New York.
Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
September 1, 2015
The dazzling world of the elite in 1950s and 1960s New York is the setting for this fourth novel by best-selling historical fiction author Benjamin (The Aviator's Wife). Riding high on his early literary successes, Truman Capote delights in the company of his "swans," a circle of wealthy married women attracted to both his impish charisma and his love of good gossip. Chief among these women is Barbara "Babe" Paley, the always immaculately dressed and groomed wife of CBS president William S. Paley, who allows herself to be vulnerable around Capote in a way she can never be with her powerful husband. When a desperate Capote betrays his swans by publishing their darkest secrets, friendships crumble and hearts break. VERDICT Fans of vintage New York glamour who loved books such as Amor Towles's Rules of Civility will relish this chance to experience vicariously the lives (and fashion choices!) of the city's rich and famous. Benjamin convincingly portrays a large cast of colorful historical figures while crafting a compelling, gossipy narrative with rich emotional depth. Highly recommended. [See Prepub Alert, 7/6/15.]--Mara Bandy, Champaign P.L., IL
Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.