The beloved classic that turned Carson McCullers into an overnight literary sensation and one of the Modern Library's top 20 novels of the twentieth century.
“I love this book! It's a great, great read and not hard at all.”—Oprah Winfrey

The beloved classic that turned Carson McCullers into an overnight literary sensation. At its center is the deaf-mute John Singer, who becomes the confidant for various types of misfits in a Georgia mill town during the 1930s. Each one yearns for escape from small town life. When Singer's mute companion goes insane, Singer moves into the Kelly house, where Mick Kelly, the book's heroine (and 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 Kelly, gives voice to the quiet, intensely personal search for beauty.