This glittering, "wild romp of a story, boldly and beautifully told"
(Neal Thompson, author of The First Kennedys) explores the darkly
intertwined fates of infamous socialite Ann Woodward and literary icon
Truman Capote, sweeping us to the upper echelons of Manhattan's high
society--where falls from grace are all the more shocking. When Ann
Woodward shot her husband, banking heir Billy Woodward, in the middle of
the night in 1955, her life changed forever. Though she claimed she
thought he was a prowler, few believed the woman who had risen from
charismatic showgirl to popular socialite. Everyone had something to say
about the scorching scandal afflicting one of the most rich and famous
families of New York City, but no one was more obsessed with the tale
than Truman Capote. Acclaimed for his bestselling nonfiction book In
Cold Blood, Capote was looking for new material and followed the scandal
from beginning to end. Like Ann, he too had ascended from nobody to
toast of the town, but he always felt like an outsider, even among the
exclusive coterie of high society women who adored him. He decided the
story of Ann's turbulent marriage would be the basis of his
masterpiece--a novel about the dysfunction and sordid secrets revealed
to him by his high society "swans"--never thinking that it would
eventually lead to Ann's suicide and his own scandalous downfall. "A
20th-century morality tale of enduring fascination" (Laura Thompson,
author of The Heiresses), Deliberate Cruelty is a haunting cross between
true crime and literary history that is perfect for fans of Furious
Hours, Empty Mansions, and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.
