The Ballad of the Sad Café: And Other Stories

· Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4.7
9 reviews
Ebook
162
Pages

About this ebook

A Southern woman is undone by love and gossip in the classic novella, one of seven stories in this “brilliant . . . panorama of remarkable talent” (The New York Times).
 
One of the most celebrated and enduringly popular works in Southern literature, this collection assembles Carson McCullers’s best stories, including her beloved novella “The Ballad of the Sad Café.” A haunting tale of love and violence in a small Southern town, the novella introduces readers to Miss Amelia, a formidable woman whose home serves as the town’s gathering place. Among other fine works, the collection also includes McCullers’s first published story, “Wunderkind,” about a musical prodigy who suddenly realizes she will not go on to become a great pianist.
 
First published in 1951, The Ballad of the Sad Café was adapted for the stage by the Edward Albee and later made into a film starring Vanessa Redgrave and Keith Carradine.
 
“McCullers's finest stories.” —The New York Times

Ratings and reviews

4.7
9 reviews

About the author

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.

Reading information

Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can listen to audiobooks purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
eReaders and other devices
To read on e-ink devices like Kobo eReaders, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Follow the detailed Help Center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.