One of the great masters of lyrical melancholy, Truman Capote remains admired for both his fiction - including Breakfast at Tiffany's - and the pioneering In Cold Blood, a 'non-fiction novel' telling the true story of a brutal murder. Penguin Modern Classics publish the full range of Capote's novels and short stories, and the tales in My Side of the Matter show to the full the blend of cynicism, humour and love that characterized his finest work.

I know what is being said about me and you can take my side or theirs, that's your own business. It's my word against Eunice's and Olivia-Ann's, and it should be plain enough to anyone with two good eyes which one of us has their wits about them. I just want the citizens of the U.S.A to know the facts, that's all.

The facts: On Sunday, August 12, this year of our Lord, Eunice tried to kill me with her papa's Civil War sword and Olivia-Ann cut up all over the place with a fourteen inch hog knife. This is not even to mention lots of other things.

It began six months ago when I married Marge. This was the first thing I did wrong. We were married in Mobile after an acquaintance of only four days. We were both sixteen and she was visiting my cousin Georgia. Now that I've had plenty of time to think it over, I can't for the life of me figure how I fell for the likes of her. She has no looks, no body, and no brains whatsoever. But Marge is a natural blonde and maybe that's the answer.

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If you like this book, you may also like these:

The Diamond as Big as the Ritz - F. Scott Fitzgerald
Murder - John Steinbeck
Letters from Four Seasons - Alistair Cooke