The original SEX AND THE CITY. First published in 1963, THE GROUP, set in the 1930s, follows the lives of eight college friends as they begin their adult lives. 'A brilliant novel:honest, engaging and sharp as a tack' Sarah Waters

THE GROUP follows eight graduates from exclusive Vassar College as they find love and heartbreak, forge careers, gossip and party in 1930s Manhattan. THE GROUP can be seen as the original SEX AND THE CITY. It is the first novel to frankly portray women's real lives, exploring subjects such as sex, contraception, motherhood and marriage.

"Shocking, titillating, and acid-laced . . . the book still dazzles as a generational portrait, falters as fiction, and blighted McCarthy's life" - Vanity Fair

"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" - 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

"A woman of intellect and style" - 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

"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

"*'A brilliant novel:honest, engaging and sharp as a tack" - Sarah Waters

"*'One of my favourite books ever" - India Knight

"Lively, vivid and exceedingly entertaining" - SUNDAY TIMES

"Juicy, shocking, witty, and almost continually brilliant" - COSMOPOLITAN