"Breakfast at Tiffany's" by Truman Capote

An interesting short novel.  The language of Capote really comes through.  All the characters in the book sound very authentic and his observations are sometimes hilarious.  One can see that the author has spent plenty of time among the 'elite' of New York City at that time, the socialites, the bankers, the brokers, etc.  The main character of the story, Holly Golightly is doing quite well in the socialite circles of New York, finding one or another "sponsor" to pay her bills which can get pretty high as she likes to show that she has expensive tastes.  Her only source of income is the weekly visit to a Mafia boss in Sing-Sing to whom she 'talks' but what really happens is seen towards the end of the book.

Unfortunately things don't go well for Holly.  Her less-than-glorious past comes to light when her husband from Texas (whom she married at 14) comes to New York to look for her.  Then it turns out that the weekly conversations in Sing Sing were actually coded messages to the New York mafia.  Her current sugar daddy, who's baby she's carrying, Jose, abandons her, since he cannot have his name connected with the scandal. Holy is devastated as she was studying Portuguese and learning about Brazilian culture for months before than, despite Jose never telling her he wants to marry her. Her brother dies.  In the midst of all this she asks the author of the story for a list of the 50 richest men in Brazil.

Holly disappears, only to write from Brazil few months later, no baby anymore, that she met a delightful old gentleman who's loaded, but there is a small formality of his wife and seven children.  The author concludes that for women like Holly there will always be another hunting ground, but are women like that ever truly happy?