Summer Crossing

Written early in Capote's career and published long after, this short novel is set in New York during a hot summer. Grady, a seventeen-year-old from a wealthy family, is left behind when her parents travel to Europe. She falls in love with Clyde, a working-class parking lot attendant, and the relationship tests class lines and her own sense of freedom. The book shows the young author's style forming, with its keen eye for city life and youthful risk.