Melanie Benjamin introduces readers to the lavish, heady world of her novel The Swans of Fifth Avenue with this exclusive ebook short story! In this enchanting prequel, New York society and Hollywood royalty collide during the doomed and decadent life of Ernest Hemingway.
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Spain, 1959. Slim Hawks Hayward likes to think she doesnāt get jealous. But when her dear friend Lauren āBettyā Bacall learns that Papa Hemingway has come to watch the bullfights and insists that Slim make introductions, she canāt help feeling protective. Slim has known Papa for years. He always makes her feel like the most beautiful woman in the roomāeven when his wife is standing right beside him. Truth be told, Slim could have learned to love him all those years ago, in the streets of Havana or the mountains of the American West. Now, Slim is sure that Papa will fall for Betty. What she doesnāt anticipate is the feeling that Papa himself has changedāand their relationship will never be the same.
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Features a captivating preview of Melanie Benjaminās highly anticipated novel The Swans of Fifth Avenue!
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Advance praise for Melanie Benjaminās The Swans of Fifth Avenue
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āThe strange and fascinating relationship between Truman Capote and his āswansā is wonderfully reimagined in this engrossing novel. Itās a credit to Benjamin that we end up caring so much for these women of power, grace, and beautyāand for Capote, too.āāSara Gruen, New York Times bestselling author of Water for Elephants
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āA delicious tale . . . Melanie Benjamin has turned Truman Capoteās greatest scandal into your next must-read book-club selection.āāJamie Ford, New York Times bestselling author of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
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āReading The Swans of Fifth Avenue is like being ushered into a party where youāre offered champagne and fed the sumptuous secrets of New Yorkās eliteāwithout having to pay the price afterward. The swans are outmatched only by the elegance of Melanie Benjaminās proseācaptivatingly earnest and sophisticated.āāVanessa Diffenbaugh, New York Times bestselling author of The Language of Flowers
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āBenjamin convincingly portrays a large cast of colorful historical figures while crafting a compelling, gossipy narrative with rich emotional depth.āāLibrary Journal