The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Carson McCullers
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Carson McCullers
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The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
A BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation

Author: Carson McCullers

Narrator: Coco Green, David Bower, Full Cast

Unabridged: 2 hr 20 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/17/2020

Categories: Fiction, Southern

Synopsis

Frequently cited as one of the great works of 20th-Century American fiction, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter is Carson McCullers’ remarkable first novel, published to instant acclaim when she was just 23.

Set in the 1930s, in a small mill town in the middle of America’s Deep South, it tells the story of Mick Kelly, a tomboy with a passion for music who dreams of buying a piano. On the cusp of womanhood, she is desperate to grow up, and feels misunderstood by everyone around her. So when lonely deaf-mute John Singer comes to stay as a lodger in Mick’s house, she is drawn to his kindness and sympathetic nature, and confides her secret hopes, dreams and ambitions to him.

But she is not the only person in town to become fascinated by Singer. Biff Brannon, the owner of the café where Singer eats every day; Doctor Copeland, an idealistic black doctor disturbed by racism and injustice; angry alcoholic Jake Blount – all pour out their hearts to him, seeking connection. He, in turn, transforms their disenchanted lives in ways they could never imagine…

Dramatised by poet and playwright Amanda Dalton, this powerful exploration of loneliness, alienation and the human need to love and be loved stars Coco Green as Mick and David Bower as Singer.

Cast
Mick Kelly ..... Coco Green
Bubber ..... Aaron Gelkoff
John Singer ..... David Bower
Biff Brannon ..... Michael S. Siegel
Jake Blount ..... Andonis Anthony
Alice Brannon ..... Laurel Lefkow
Portia Jones ..... Anna Jobarteh
Dr Benedict Copeland..... Delroy Brown
Etta Kelly ..... Lily Green
Willie Copeland/Deputy Sheriff..... Tachia Newall
Harry Minowitz ..... Eric Sirakian
Dramatised by Amanda Dalton
Directed by Susan Roberts
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 15-22 March 2020

About Carson McCullers

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.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Trevor on June 26, 2008

I knew nothing about this book at all. Well, except for the title, I’d definitely heard the title before – but I would have bet money the book was written by a man and that it was bad romance novel, at least, that would have been my best guess. Instead, this is now perhaps one of my all-time favouri......more

Goodreads review by Paul on December 03, 2008

ROCK AND ROLL It turns out that Miss McCullers did most of her great writing - most of her entire writing - before she was 30. Rock and roll! After 30 she was too busy having ghastly illnesses and marrying the same guy three or four times, and dodging invitations to a suicide pact from the guy she ma......more

Goodreads review by Duffy on June 15, 2011

I may come back and give this four stars, but for now I can't. I first started this book maybe two years ago. I got about 100 pages into it and stopped. I didn't stop because I disliked it. Rather, it seemed at the time a natural result from the inertia and momentum of the book itself. Basically, I w......more

Goodreads review by Gabrielle (Reading Rampage) on October 21, 2021

What a terribly sad book, and yet, so insightful about loneliness, despair and alienation that it’s impossible not to love it, somehow. In a small town in Georgia during WWII, four very different people find solace in talking to Mr. Singer, a deaf and mute man who eats at the New York Café every day.......more

Goodreads review by Arah-Lynda on January 16, 2017

I simply cannot get this book out of my head.    Like most everyone else I am astounded that Carson McCullers was only 23 years old when she wrote this.  Such wisdom and insight from someone so young is truly remarkable.   And there are so many great reviews out there, I just could not stop reading t......more

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