Before he became the caricature most of us are familiar with, Truman Capote was a handsome elfin charmer who attracted women like moths to a flame to the utter bafflement of men. Back in 1955, when Truman was barely 30, he was introduced to New York socialite darling Babe Paley; it was a meeting of two souls desperate for unconditional love, which they found in each other. Their extraordinary platonic love story endured for two decades, until betrayal shattered it all.

THE SWANS OF FIFTH AVENUE were a small group of society friends, every one of them with her little secrets, who fell under the spell of the charismatic Truman. Babe Paley, who died in 1978 and is still remembered today for her exquisite style and timeless beauty, was a very lonely woman whose sole purpose in life was the pursuit of perfection, as drilled into her by her family. When she met Truman, her life was changed forever.

THE SWANS OF FIFTH AVENUE feels like thumbing through old issues of Vanity Fair and Vogue, as the author meticulously recreates the glittery allure of the Beautiful People's Manhattan of the 1950s and 1960s. After finishing the book, it dawned on me how well Ms. Benjamin conveyed the various moods of the book: one part is breezy, breathless and joyful as the Swans bask in the gossipy, sparkling relative insouciance of their golden life, then the tone shifts slightly as Truman achieves greater success and as tiny cracks in their painstakingly maintained façades begin to show. The latter part of THE SWANS OF FIFTH AVENUE, where all the beauty begins to wither, friendships are tried, bosom buddies betrayed in the name of fame, and when Truman faces a writer's block from which he never recovers and which changed him permanently that the author really displays her writing skills.

While Ms. Benjamin embroiders on mundane details, THE SWANS OF FIFTH AVENUE is based on facts. It is a vivid chronicle of a golden era, but more than that, it made me wish I had known Babe Paley, because the perfect fashion icon hid a woman whom I would have liked to have called my friend.