Cast a Cold Eye

Seven “remarkable” stories from the bestselling author of The Group (The New York Times).


Two American tourists find themselves seriously befuddled by their unorthodox Italian guide. 
A hospitalized graduate student turns the sounds of pain and despair into music. A family is tragically taken apart, and then reformed, by a deadly outbreak of influenza. The short fiction in this collection, some of it autobiographical in inspiration, reflects both the adept, witty storytelling and the insightful social commentary of New York Times–bestselling author Mary McCarthy.

A National Book Award finalist known for such novels as Birds in America and The Groves of Academe—as well as memoir (Memories of a Catholic Girlhood) and travel writing (Venice Observed)—McCarthy shows in Cast a Cold Eye why she has been called “a brilliant writer with a rare talent for corrosive satire” (The Atlantic Monthly).
 This ebook features an illustrated biography of Mary McCarthy including rare images from the author’s estate.