Answered Prayers

…masterpiece, a social satire entitled Answered Prayers, appeared in Esquire in 1975–76 and raised a storm among friends and foes who were harshly depicted in the work (under the thinnest of disguises). He became a social pariah, and his alcohol and drug problems worsened. (The fallout from the published excerpts…

…Capote’s unfinished roman à clef Answered Prayers, in which he skewered his socialite friends, including the Paleys. William and Babe Paley remained together until her death in 1978.

Capote’s unfinished roman à clef Answered Prayers. In the tell-all excerpt, he skewered his inner circle of socialite friends, portraying them as catty backstabbers and revealing their secrets. Babe Paley, Slim Keith, and other “swans,” as Capote called them, were furious, and the writer became a social pariah. The excerpt…

…chapter of his unfinished novel Answered Prayers. The chapter was published in Esquire in 1975. Calling his friends “swans” and depicting them as backstabbers, Capote attracted the wrath of New York’s high society.