Not one of them, if she could help it, was going to marry a broker or a banker or a cold-fish corporation lawyer . . .
Eight Vassar graduates meet in New York to attend the wedding of one of their friends - and reconvene seven years later at her funeral. The women, fresh from college, vowed not to become stuffy and frightened like their parents, but to lead fulfilling, emancipated lives. But which of them will achieve that dream - and what sacrifices and compromises will it take?
Groundbreaking in its frank depiction of friendship, sex and the truth of women's lives, The Group was a revelation, a scandal, and an instant bestseller.
'A brilliant novel: honest, engaging and sharp as a tack' Sarah Waters
'Absorbing, funny, painful . . . I consider it a masterpiece' Hilary Mantel
'Shocking, titillating, and acid-laced' Vanity Fair

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.