Heart Is A Lonely Hunter: A Novel

Carson McCullers

Jan 2011 · Sold by HarperCollins

About this ebook

The beloved classic that turned Carson McCullers into an overnight literary sensation and one of the Modern Library's top 20 novels of the 20th century.

“A remarkable book…From the opening page, brilliant in its establishment of mood, character, and suspense, the book takes hold of the reader.”

In a Georgia Mill town during the 1930s, an enigmatic John Singer, draws out the haunted confessions of an itinerant worker, a doctor, a widowed café owner, and a young girl. Each yearns for escape from small town life, but the young girl, Mick Kelly, the book's heroine (loosely based on McCullers), finds solace in her music.

Wonderfully attuned to the spiritual isolation that underlies the human condition, and with a deft sense for racial tensions in the South, McCullers spins a haunting, unforgettable story that gives voice to the rejected, the forgotten, and the mistreated—and, through Mick, gives voice to the quiet, intensely personal search for beauty.

Ratings and reviews

Carson McCullers opens the reader's eyes to plight of the Negroes and poor Southern Whites prior to World War II. She has a cast of characters who lives are bound by one character, Mr. Singer. The book is a great read for any book club.

A large cast of exquisitely described individuals whose beautifully crafted stories join at odd and perfect moments. One of the greatest coming of age novels ever - doesn't sugar the pill even when you are desperate for a moment of mercy. Toss your copy of Winesburg, Ohio - The Heart is a Lonely Hunter is all you need.

Brought to light by the 1968 film starting Alan Arkin, the book has me talking back to the characters by the end of the first chapter. The remarkable ability of the author to create and narrate such characters that make you a part of the story is timeless genius. (Is there undiagnosed autism here as well?) Peace.

About the author

Carson McCullers (1917-1967) was the author of numerous works of fiction and nonfiction, including The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, The Member of the Wedding, Reflections in a Golden Eye, and Clock Without Hands. Born in Columbus, Georgia, on February 19, 1917, she became a promising pianist and enrolled in the Juilliard School of Music in New York when she was seventeen, but lacking money for tuition, she never attended classes. Instead she studied writing at Columbia University, which ultimately led to The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, the novel that made her an overnight literary sensation. On September 29, 1967, at age fifty, she died in Nyack, New York, where she is buried.