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The Heart is a Lonely Hunter

By Carson McCullers
Series: Penguin Modern Hardbacks
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Brief Description
Penguin Modern Hardbacks – a new series of iconic works from the Modern Classics list with bold, mid-century-inspired cover designs. 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... Read More
Format: Hardback
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Penguin Modern Hardbacks – a new series of iconic works from the Modern Classics list with bold, mid-century-inspired cover designs.

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 café 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 they 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.

Series: Penguin Modern Hardbacks

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  • The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
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    The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
    Penguin Modern Hardbacks – a new series of iconic works from the Modern Classics list with bold, mid-century-inspired cover designs. 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...
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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780241814864

Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd

Format: Hardback

Date Published: 30 July 2026

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Penguin Classics

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 40.0mm

Width: 132.0mm

Height: 204.0mm

Weight: 750g

Pages: 336

Collections

Carson McCullers Classic Fiction Education & Reference Fiction General Fiction Literary Fiction Penguin Books Penguin Classics Pre-order Books Pre-order General Fiction Pre-orders Pre-orders by Release Date Series: Penguin Modern Hardbacks

About the Author

Carson McCullers was born in 1917. She is the critically acclaimed author of several popular novels in the 1940s and '50s, including The Member of the Wedding (1946). Her novels frequently depicted life in small towns of the southeastern United States and were marked by themes of loneliness and spiritual isolation. McCullers suffered from ill health most of her adult life, including a series of strokes that began when she was in her 20s; she died at the age of 50. The Member of the Wedding was dramatized for the stage in the 1950s and filmed in 1952 and 1997. Other films based on her books are Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967, with Elizabeth Taylor and Marlon Brando), The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (1968, starring Alan Arkin) and The Ballad of the Sad Cafe (1991).

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    She has examined the heart of man with an understanding ... that no other writer can hope to surpass - Tennessee Williams 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...
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