Breakfast at Tiffany's (novella) debt to Christopher Isherwood, one of his mentors, in creating the character of Holly Golightly: ""Breakfast at Tiffany's" is in many ways Capote's personal crystallization of Isherwood's Sally Bowles." Truman Capote's aunt, Marie Rudisill notes that Holly is a kindred spirit of Miss Lily Jane Bobbit, the central character of his short story "Children on Their Birthdays". She observes that both characters are "unattached, unconventional wanderers, dreamers in pursuit of some ideal of happiness." Capote himself acknowledged that Golightly was the favorite of his characters. The novella's prose style prompted Norman Mailer to call Capote "the most perfect writer of
Breakfast at Tiffany's (novella) that he "would not be interested if ["Esquire"] did not use Attie's [original series of] photographs." He wrote to "Esquire" fiction editor Rust Hills, "I'm happy that you are using [Attie's] pictures, as I think they are excellent." But to his disappointment, "Esquire" ran just one full-page image of Attie's (another was later used as the cover of at least one paperback edition of the novella). The novella appeared in the November, 1958 issue. Shortly afterward, a collection of the novella and three short stories by Capote was published by Random House—and the glowing reviews caused sales of the "Esquire"