• Novels

Answered Prayers is a 1986 unfinished novel by American author Truman Capote. All four surviving sections of the work were serialized in Esquire magazine. Mojave was published in June 1975, La Cote Basque, 1965 in November 1975, Unspoiled Monsters on 1 May 1976 and Kate McCloud on 1 December 1976. The 1987 Answered Prayers book published in the United States by Random House includes Unspoiled Monsters, Kate McCloud and La Cote Basque, 1965. Mojave may not have been added since Capote had decided to exclude it from his book. - AsNotedIn

For four years, roughly from 1968 through 1972, I spent most of my time reading and selecting, rewriting and indexing my own letters, other people's letters, my diaries and journals (which contain detailed accounts of hundreds of scenes and conversations) for the years 1943 through 1965... in 1972 I began work on [Answered Prayers] by writing the last chapter [presumably "Father Flanagan's All-Night Nigger Queen Kosher Cafe"] first (it's always good to know where one is going). Then I wrote the first chapter, "Unspoiled Monsters". Then the fifth, "A Severe Insult to the Brain". Then the seventh, "La Cote Basque". I went on in this manner, writing different chapters out of sequence. I was able to do this only because the plot -- or rather plots -- was true, and all the characters were real... I hadn't invented anything