About the Author

Mary McCarthy (1912-1989) was born in Seattle, Washington. She was a short-story writer, bestselling novelist, essayist and an art critic. She was a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters and won the National Medal for Literature and the Edward MacDowell Medal in 1984. Her debut novel, The Company She Keeps (1942), initiated her ascent to the most celebrated writers of her generation; the publication of her autobiography Memories of a Catholic Girlhood in 1957 bolstered this reputation. McCarthy wrote more than twenty-four books, including the now-classic novel The Group (1963). This was the New York Times Best Seller for two years.

Reviews

Absorbing, funny, painful . . . I consider it a masterpiece
*Hilary Mantel*

Shocking, titillating, and acid-laced . . . the book still dazzles as a generational portrait, falters as fiction, and blighted McCarthy's life
*Vanity Fair*

A brilliant novel: honest, engaging and sharp as a tack
*Sarah Waters*

McCarthy's characters confront many of the same issues as their modern counterparts: sex and contraception, career and marriage, love and lust, fidelity to one's husband versus loyalty to one's friends and the attempt to carve out a place for oneself unconstrained by the gender limitations of previous generations. Its continuing relevance is one of the book's most extraordinary attributes
*Guardian*

Few works of literature can genuinely be termed "ahead of their time"
*The Times*

Juicy, shocking, witty, and almost continually brilliant
*Cosmopolitan*

Lively, vivid and exceedingly entertaining
*Sunday Times*

One of my favourite books ever
*India Knight*

A woman of intellect and style
*New York Times*

Her greatest novel . . . marvellous . . . a prophetic book which set the scene . . . for the novels of protest and liberation in the next decade
*Independent*

Feels like discovering a thrilling secret. Its prose shows a master stylist at work, its aesthetics are striking - all ivory-tipped cigarettes, hand-pureed pâté, Vassar socialists in dungarees - and it has a surprise queer romance that twists the whole narrative into new shape. It's my new standard for a summer read: lavish, hilarious, smart and mean, like a glamorous friend you're torn between fearing and crushing on
*Mikaella Clements*

Scalpel-keen prose, honed on ruthless wit and insight
*Observer*

She is a sparkler, a very funny, very savage moralist, and a brilliant mimic
*Spectator*

This is the book which has aroused considerable advance speculation and well it might; it has a tremendous reader recognition . . . there cannot be much doubt that Mary McCarthy is an exceptional social satirist, with a jackdaw eye and an infallible ear
*Kirkus Reviews*

McCarthy's dissection of this disparate group - highly educated but powerless in a world of men - is witty and merciless but tinged with sadness.
*Daily Mail*