Carson McCullers' prodigious first novel was published to instant acclaim when she was just twenty-three. Set in a small town in the middle of the Deep South, it is the story of John Singer, a lonely deaf-mute, and a disparate group of people who are drawn towards his kind, sympathetic nature.
 
The owner of the cafe where Singer eats every day, a young girl desperate to grow up, an angry socialist drunkard, a frustrated black doctor: each pours their heart out to Singer, their silent confidant, and he in turn changes their disenchanted lives in ways the could never imagine.
 
Moving, sensitive and deeply humane, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
explores loneliness, the human need for understanding and the search for love. A powerful exploration of alienation and loneliness in 1930s America, published in Penguin Modern Classics.
 
'She has examined the heart of man with an understanding ...that no other writer can hope to surpass' - Tennessee Williams 
 
'A remarkable book ... she writes with a sweep and certainty that are overwhelming' - The New York Times
 
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd 
ISBN: 9780141185224