Capote novel: There are early hints of 'Breakfast at Tiffany's'

The McNeils live in a grandiose apartment and, as the novella opens, Mr and Mrs McNeil are preparing to take their berth in a cruise ship to Europe (the "summer crossing" of the title). Their daughter Grady has refused to go along, even with the promise of a couturier fitting in Paris. Left alone in the city, Grady gets up to no end of trouble.

Capote excelled in the creation of magnetic, disagreeable yet strangely sympathetic characters. Grady is not entirely likeable, but unlike today's "Bergdorf Blondes", she does not have a manicure instead of a personality, and her sheer physicality is brilliantly expressed.

In her friendship with the devoted but sexually ambiguous Peter Bell, we can see a trial run for the central relationship in Breakfast at Tiffany's, between Holly and the unnamed narrator.

Despite a rather weak opening, Summer Crossing is an astonishingly assured piece of work. Some images do not come off but they are offset by charming phrases, lyrical patches and keen observations.It is a finely worked novella and a work of art in its own right.