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‘Juicy, shocking, witty, and almost continually brilliant’ COSMOPOLITAN
‘A brilliant novel: honest, engaging and sharp as a tack’ SARAH WATERS
‘Lively, vivid and exceedingly entertaining’ SUNDAY TIMES

Not one of them, if she could help it, was going to marry a broker or a banker or a cold-fish corporation lawyer. . .

New York, 1930. Eight Vassar graduates meet in New York to attend the wedding of one of their friends – and reconvene seven years later at her funeral. Young and fearless, they vow not to become stuffy and frightened like their parents, but to lead fulfilling, emancipated lives. But which of them will achieve that dream – and at what cost?

Ground-breaking in its fearless portrayal of female friendship, sex and the struggle to have it all, The Group was a revelation, a scandal, and an instant bestseller.

‘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’ ELIZABETH DAY, GUARDIAN

Publisher Review

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 — Laura Jacobs * 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 — Elizabeth Day * 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 — Celia McGee * 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 pate, 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 *