Capote, Truman: Breakfast at Tiffany's

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The character of Holly Golightly is well known to many from Audrey Hepburn's portrayal of her on film. (I have not seen the movie, but I suspect from what I know of it that its tone and storyline differ markedly from that of the novella.) Holly, a "lopsided romantic" in the author's words, is a charming but self-involved, irresponsible, and sometimes mean-spirited young woman with a murkily unpleasant past. She attracts wealthy men to her easily and, in some vague way, makes her living from them. Among those who fall in love with her is the narrator of the book, a neighbor whom she calls "Fred"—her brother's name. "Fred," prompted by the report that she may be in Africa, writes about Holly years after his acquaintance with her has ended. His story suggests that she has managed to charm a new continent-load of men and to land on her feet again, cat-like.