Grady - beautiful, rich, flame-haired, defiant - is the sort of girl people stare at across a room. The daughter of an important man, who people want to be introduced to. A girl to whom people sense something is going to happen ... But her privileged society life of parties, debutantes and dresses leaves her wanting more. And excitement comes in the form of the highly unsuitable Clyde, a Brooklyn-born, Jewish parking attendant. When Grady's parents leave her alone for the first time in their New York penthouse one summer, their secret affair intensifies. As a heat wave envelops the city, Grady gets in deeper and deeper and cares less about the consequences. Soon, though, she will be forced to make decisions - choices that will forever affect her future once the long, sultry summer comes to an end. “Witness the coming together of Truman Capote’s voice, the electric-into-neon blaze that is surely one of the premier styles of postwar American literature.” - The Washington Post Book World “A great breezy read . . . with Capote’s trademark wit, but also with genuine youthful awe at the exhilaration of late-forties New York.” - New York