Name: Pam Sartain's review of Swan Song by Kelleigh Greenberg-Jephcott
Item: Swan Song
Rating: 4
Author: Pam Sartain

Kelleigh Greenberg-Jephcott

'A completely fascinating novel and a marvellously skillful re-imagining of real people, times and places. Outstanding.' -William Boyd 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.'

Swan Song

Nina 

NOMINATED FOR THE 2019 WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION '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 ___________________________ To the outside world, they were the icons of high society - the most glamorous and influential women of their age. To Truman Capote they were his Swans- the ideal heroines, as vulnerable as they were powerful. They trusted him with their most guarded, martini-soaked secrets, each believing she was more special and loved than the next... Until he betrayed them. '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 'Brilliantly captures Capote's acid wit and his dramatic downfall.' THE TIMES, Books of the Year 'This is a first novel of extraordinary skill, a book of which Capote would have been proud' OBSERVER 'Greenberg-Jephcott's debut is a devastating read that blurs the lines between vulnerability and narcissism; sex and power... will have you racing breathlessly towards the end' THE POOL

Pam Sartain

Swan Song by Kelleigh Greenberg-Jephcott is about Truman Capote, and the glamorous high society women he called his Swans, and his betrayal of them.

Truman Capote loved gossip, and his Swans all told him secrets - theirs, and their friends, all of which they believed he would keep. But, he used these women's lives as grist for the writing mill, changing names but little else, and told some of their deepest darkest secrets in an extract for a book he was writing call Answered Prayers. 

Swan Song is a fictional re-telling, with some of the secrets, from the point of view of the women he betrayed, as a fictional chorus of 'we'. It has details about Truman Capote's life, friendships and love.

I really enjoyed Swan Song as it had a good mix of shock, the sadness of betrayal, and the attempt to live after. 

I've not read anything by Truman Capote (don't worry he's on the list now!), and it's funny that I've read a book about Harper Lee (Furious Hours, which I reviewed in May), and now about Capote as I never knew they were childhood friends, even if they did drift apart later in life.

This is Kelleigh Greenbery-Jephcott's debut novel, and what a start as it was longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2019!

Swan Song was published on 9th July 2019, and is available to buy on Amazon and on Waterstones. I've found a link to where you can search for local bookshops, including independent!

I was given this book for free in return for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Random House UK (the publishers) for this book.

Check out my GoodReads profile to see more reviews!

Tarannum Kamlani

Elle Geoghegan 

Robert Hinchcliffe

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 Yucatán 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

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Swan Song by Kelleigh Greenberg-Jephcott

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Swan Song by Kelleigh Greenberg-Jephcott