Deliberate Cruelty is a fictionalized account of the true story of Ann Woodward who shot her banker husband. She claimed she thought he was an intruder but few people believed it and it was an enormous scandal.

She was at the top of the top in society - having risen from showgirl to one of the richest and awe inspiring women in the 1950s. The highest of female society embraced the highly intelligent author, Truman Capote, who had written "In Cold Blood." These women shared their innermost secrets with him, and he was considered as high in society as they were.

Capote became captivated by Woodward's story and was determined to make this his follow-up to In Cold Blood. A story of this most scandalous of situations.

In writing this he exposed the secrets of the female upper echelons, his darlings. H believing that by showing the inside of the pinnacle of society he would write a masterpiece that the world would worship.
What he didn't realize was that the world that had so loved him was aghast that he would betray them and their worlds to the public.
The story "Answered Prayers," led to his ouster and may well have led to Ann's suicide.

This book, part history and part fiction, brings this story into a light much welcome - and truly fascinating look into the rise and fall of top society

I absolutely love books on Truman Capote. This book is deliciously evil and I loved reading about that time period. It’s full of tidbits of gossip and incredibly interesting story.