Swan Song

Description: LONGLISTED FOR THE 2019 WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION `The new Donna Tartt.' Vogue 'Brilliantly captures Capote's acid wit and his dramatic downfall.' The Times BOOKS OF THE YEAR 'A dazzlingly assured first novel... This clever book, with the moreish astringency of a negroni, is a perfect summer cocktail.' - Sunday Times 'A whirlwind of a first novel. There is great pathos in the Swans' woundings and in their inevitable decline. And the character of Truman himself shimmers through the novel in a wonderful blaze of eccentricity and excess. Outstanding.' - Rose Tremain ___________________________ They told him everything. He told everyone else. Over countless martini-soaked Manhattan lunches, they shared their deepest secrets and greatest fears. On exclusive yachts sailing the Mediterranean, on private jets streaming towards Jamaica, on Yucatan beaches in secluded bays, they gossiped about sex, power, money, love and fame. They never imagined he would betray them so absolutely. In the autumn of 1975, after two decades of intimate friendships, Truman Capote detonated a literary grenade, forever rupturing the elite circle he'd worked so hard to infiltrate. Why did he do it, knowing what he stood to lose? Was it to punish them? To make them pay for their manners, money and celebrated names? Or did he simply refuse to believe that they could ever stop loving him? Whatever the motive, one thing remains indisputable: nine years after achieving wild success with In Cold Blood, Capote committed an act of professional and social suicide with his most lethal of weapons . . . Words. A dazzling debut about the line between gossip and slander, self-creation and self-preservation, SWAN SONG is the tragic story of the literary icon of his age and the beautiful, wealthy, vulnerable women he called his Swans. `Writers write. And one can't be surprised if they write what they know.' ______________________________ 'A completely fascinating novel and a marvellously skilful re-imagining of real people, times and places. Outstanding.' - William Boyd 'Scandalous, frenetic, amusing and tragic.' - Daily Mail 'Our generation's The Secret History' - Pendora 'Brilliantly written, deeply researched, funny, sharp and moving.' - Kate Williams, bestselling author of Josephine

Review: "A rich, sharp, sting of a book. It made me laugh and grimace and pity monsters. I'm still smiling about it" -- Stu Turton, bestselling author of THE SEVEN DEATHS OF EVELYN HARDCASTLE "Brilliantly captures Capote's acid wit and his dramatic downfall." * The Times BOOKS OF THE YEAR * "As deliciously gossipy as it is wretched, and Greenberg-Jephcott's unique rendering of Capote's squealing drawl of a voice is unforgettable." -- Frankie McCoy * Evening Standard BOOKS OF THE YEAR * "Gorgeous... That glittering world - all Dom Perignon, Sobranies, Quaalude and Chanel - is recreated with a lovely eye for detail" -- Robbie Millen * The Times * "A sparkling debut vividly captures the high society women who punished Capote for his indiscreet reporting" * The Guardian * "A dazzlingly assured first novel... This clever book, with the moreish astringency of a negroni, is a perfect summer cocktail" * The Sunday Times * "A completely fascinating novel and a marvellously skillful re-imagining of real people, times and places. Outstanding." -- William Boyd "This is a first novel of extraordinary skill, a book of which Capote would have been proud" -- Alex Preston * The Observer * "If a writer is going to craft a novel from well-known events, they might as well do it with brio, which this has in spades... A skilled and sparking debut" -- Suzi Feay * Guardian * "A whirlwind of a first novel. There is great pathos in the Swans' woundings and in their inevitable decline. And the character of Truman himself shimmers through the novel in a wonderful blaze of eccentricity and excess. Outstanding." -- Rose Tremain "Swan Song is magnificent. For all the swagger and swish and intrigue, it is consistently well supported with perfect, juicy sentences. Utter corker" -- Fiona Melrose "Perfect holiday novel, Swan Song by Kelleigh Greenberg-Jephcott. Truman Capote's struggle with art and society reimagined" -- Linda Grant, author of THE DARK CIRCLE "[A] seductive spellbinding debut... Greenberg-Jephcott beautifully captures the pain and poignancy alongside the privilege" * S Magazine, Sunday Express * "A moving account of Capote's own giddy, talent-fuelled ascent and the self-destructive plummet that follows" * Mail on Sunday * "Brilliantly written, deeply researched, funny, sharp and moving, this wonderful book marks the debut of a major talent." -- Kate Williams, bestselling author of Josephine "Swan Song is a whirlwind tour of private jets to Mexico resorts, playboys' yachts in the Mediterranean, Manhattan martini lunches and so much scandal ... [A] riveting novel" * Red *





Author Biography: Kelleigh Greenberg-Jephcott was born and raised in Houston, Texas, before coming to call Los Angeles and London her adopted homes. She is a graduate of UEA's Creative Writing MA course and was the winner of the Bridport Prize Peggy Chapman-Andrews Award. Swan Song is her first novel.

Promotional Information: A dazzling debut about Truman Capote, the literary icon of his age, and the beautiful, wealthy, vulnerable women he called his Swans.