Carson McCullers

The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1940) is a novel by Carson McCullers. It is centered on a deaf-mute named John Singer and the people he encounters in a 1930s mill town in the U.S. state of Georgia. The struggles of four of his primary acquaintances make up the majority of the narrative; they are Mick Kelly, a young girl, Jake Blount, a labor agitator, Biff Brannon, a restauranteur, and Dr. Benedict Copeland, an idealistic African-American doctor. A 1968 film adaptation by the same name was directed by Robert Ellis Miller. It stars Alan Arkin, Sondra Locke, Laurinda Barrett, Stacy Keach, Percy Rodriguez and Cicely Tyson. It was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Alan Arkin) and Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Sondra Locke).