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Swan Song: Longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2019

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A whirlwind of a first novel. There is great pathos in the Swans' woundings and in their inevitable decline. And the character of Truman himself shimmers through the novel in a wonderful blaze of eccentricity and excess. Outstanding.' ROSE TREMAIN Swan Song is utterly divine.It swept me up and I just couldn't put it down ... it is the writing in this debut novel that astounds most of all. It is vivid, addictive and whips up a terrific portrait of a deeply contradictory and complex man, contrasting scenes from his unorthodox childhood with those from the gilded bubble he ended up in that he lanced through his own actions. Victoria Sadler Written in 1978, republished in 2010, The Clique follows rookie reporter Gunn Goater, who arrives in London from the provinces, eager to cover the impending demise of Winston Churchill. Waiting outside his subject’s residence, he spies a “little crowd” of five, theatrically dressed, epitomising the Swinging 60s that eluded him in Lincolnshire. The Clique is a sharp work of postwar, pre-Thatcher satire, set against crumbling communal flats and love-ins – a milieu to which Gunn is wholly unsuited. Tom Stoppard (4 April 2013). Indian Ink. Faber & Faber. pp.6–. ISBN 978-0-571-30081-5 . Retrieved 14 April 2019.

Greenberg-Jephcott’s debut is fizzing with energy and ideas…The novel has style and substance in spades. ObserverAs my opening quote implies that immediately gave me no common ground to start from, until I realised I I had one thing - I knew the famous poster of a film for which it turns out Capote wrote the originating novella. A rich, sharp, sting of a book. It made me laugh and grimace and pity monsters. I'm still smiling about it Stu Turton, bestselling author of THE SEVEN DEATHS OF EVELYN HARDCASTLE Starting out in life, Capote had more than his fair share of loss and trauma – in essence he was abandoned by his mother who went on to re-invent herself in New York. His childhood companion, however, was none other than Nelle Harper Lee (yes, the novelist). He, too, was busy writing as a child, and there was already an inkling of the future, when a local paper published Mr Busybody, his portrayal of some those in his circle. It was prescient, shall we say. With a grounding in history, it is a fascinating read about the deepest secrets of an iconic author. Hello! his is a production of the play As You Like It (by William Shakespeare) by Royal Shakespeare Company, 6th September 1977 (press night), at The Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon". Theatricalia. Theatricalia.

A vastly different vision of the male teenage clique, this is a dystopian nightmare of young men linked by brutality. Alex and his gang of “droogs” imbibe drug-laced “Knifey Moloko”, preparing for a night of sociopathic violence. They rob, rape and kill in a series of horrific crimes. There’s a hierarchy within the group, which gives way to tensions, in-fighting and challenges for dominance. Alex is betrayed, leading to his incarceration and “aversion therapy”. The clique is defined by callous detachment, desire for power and violence-as-pornography. It raises chilling questions about gang mentality and free will. The second section, The Present, and the third, The Past, are more eclectic and wide-ranging.Rose, 1944 is quintessential Dunmore. Firstly, all the people are shallow, self-centred and vindictive, with Capote being the worst of them. I realise there is little an author can do if their chosen subjects are not nice people, so this is not a criticism of the book, but more an explanation of my reaction to it. I have to admit that prior to reading Swan Song, I knew almost nothing about Truman Capote; I had, of course, heard of his two most famous books, his much-loved novella Breakfast at Tiffany’s and his non-fiction novel, In Cold Blood, but that was about the extent of my knowledge. And thus it was that for me, Swan Song was not only a riveting read, but it too was an informative insight into one of the twentieth century’s most renowned literary darlings. Hannah forms a friendship with a nonagenarian former actress although she doesn’t discover the truth about her until it’s too late.

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Since reading the totally, totally beautiful Swan Song, I have two new hobbies. Googling photos of Barbara Paley and watching videos of the Camel Walk. Dolly Alderton A completely fascinating novel and a marvellously skilful re-imagining of real people, times and places. Outstanding.' WILLIAM BOYD There is much of interest here. Capote was a fascinating, damaged character. There are points in the story where you can pause and switch to YouTube to watch events being referred to (I would very much recommend watching the infamous interview on the Stanley Siegel show where Capote turned up high and rambled - it gives an insight into the state of his life and mind at that point in the story - if you have been reading this book prior to watching that clip, it is heartbreaking).

Cochran, Peter (2014). Small-Screen Shakespeare. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p.289. ISBN 9781443869690 . Retrieved 21 April 2019. A completely fascinating novel and a marvellously skillful re-imagining of real people, times and places. Outstanding. William BoydPremise: A forty-year-old woman receives a Facebook friend request from a girl she bullied at school; a girl who died 25 years ago. Swan Song is a deft, dazzling, diligently researched creation, in which the lives of various members of elite, powerful, old-moneyed families, such as the Roosevelts, Kennedys, Bouviers and Churchills, are verbally dissected over Martini-drenched lunches. Kelleigh Greenberg-Jephcott spent ten years researching this novel, which was named winner of the 2015 Bridport Prize Peggy Chapman-Andrews Award for a First Novel, in addition to being shortlisted for the 2015 Myriad Editions First Drafts Competition and the 2015/16 Historical Novel Society New Novel Award. I hope we won't have to wait so long for her next book.

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