An absorbing look at the early beginnings of one of America€s finest writers, The Mortgaged Heart is an important collection of Carson McCullers€s work, including stories, essays, articles, poems, and her writing on writing. These pieces, written mostly before McCullers was nineteen, provide invaluable insight into her life and her gifts and growth as a writer. The collection also contains the working outline of €œThe Mute,€ which became her best-selling novel The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter. As new generations of readers continue to discover her work, Carson McCullers€s celebrated place in American letters survives more surely than ever. Edited by McCullers€s sister and with a new introduction by Joyce Carol Oates, The Mortgaged Heart will be an inspiration to writers young and old.