Order of Book Series
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Carson McCullers Books in Order

14 books are credited to Carson McCullers, published between 1940 and 2018; 7 of them appeared after Carson McCullers's death in 1967. The first book is The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1940) and the newest is The Haunted Boy (2018). Publication order is the reading order below.

Books
14
Published
1940–2018
Pages on record
2,728 in 13 of 14 books
Reading time
45–68 hours

Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 2,728 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 13 of 14 titles with a page count on record.

See all 14 books in order Printable Carson McCullers checklist
Photo of Carson McCullers, author

Carson McCullers, born in 1917 and died in 1967, was an American novelist, short-story writer, playwright, essayist and poet. Her first novel, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1940), traces the isolation of misfits and outcasts in a small Southern town, and her later books keep to the same ground, most are set in the Deep South, and critics read the work as Southern Gothic with a reach beyond its region. Reflections in a Golden Eye (1941), The Member of the Wedding (1946) and The Ballad of the Sad Café (1951) followed, and her stories have been adapted for stage and screen. Fourteen titles are catalogued.

How many Carson McCullers books are there?

Carson McCullers has 14 books, released between 1940 and 2018. 7 of them were published after Carson McCullers's death in 1967.

Carson McCullers Books in Publication Order

The table lists all 14 Carson McCullers books in the order they were published, with the release year, the page count where one is on record, and how many independent book listings confirm each title. Catalogue data as of September 2026.

  1. Cover of The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers (1940)
  2. Cover of Reflections in a Golden Eye by Carson McCullers (1941)
  3. Cover of The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers (1946)
  4. Cover of The Ballad of the Sad Café by Carson McCullers (1951)
  5. Cover of Clock Without Hands by Carson McCullers (1961)
  6. Cover of The Mortgaged Heart by Carson McCullers (1970)
  7. Cover of The Shorter Novels And Stories Of Carson Mc Cullers by Carson McCullers (1972)
  8. Cover of Collected Stories by Carson McCullers (1987)
  9. Cover of Illumination and Night Glare by Carson McCullers (1999)
  10. Cover of The Haunted Boy by Carson McCullers (2018)
  1. 1
    The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter1940 · 359 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1940359
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  2. 2
    Reflections in a Golden Eye1941 · 136 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1941136
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  3. 3
    The Member of the Wedding1946 · 163 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1946163
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  4. 4
    The Ballad of the Sad Café1951 · 152 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1951152
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  5. 5
    The Square Root of Wonderful1958 · 176 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1958176
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  6. 6
    Clock Without Hands1961 · 241 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1961241
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  7. 7
    Sweet As a Pickle and Clean As a Pig1964 · confirmed 1/4
    1964–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  8. 8
    The Mortgaged Heart1970 · 292 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1970292
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  9. 9
    The Shorter Novels And Stories Of Carson Mc Cullers1972 · 433 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1972433
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  10. 10
    Sucker1986 · 31 pages · confirmed 1/4
    198631
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  11. 11
    Collected Stories1987 · 394 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1987394
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  12. 12
    A Tree, a Rock, a Cloud1989 · 31 pages · confirmed 1/4
    198931
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  13. 13
    Illumination and Night Glare1999 · 256 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1999256
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  14. 14
    The Haunted Boy2018 · 64 pages · confirmed 1/4
    201864
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK

Carson McCullers books grouped by series

Each title below is a row in the publication-order table above. None of these groups has a reading-order page of its own on this site.

Standalone books

14 books

14 Carson McCullers titles here are not listed as part of any series.

Do you have to read Carson McCullers books in order?

No. No source lists any of the 14 Carson McCullers books here as part of a series. The numbered table above gives them by publication date.

Where to start with Carson McCullers

Start with The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1940), the earliest published title.

What is the newest Carson McCullers book?

The Haunted Boy (2018) is the newest Carson McCullers book released so far.

Is there a new Carson McCullers book coming?

No next Carson McCullers book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.

Carson McCullers at a glance

Died
Carson McCullers died in 1967, according to Wikidata.
After death
Books credited to Carson McCullers are still being published after Carson McCullers's death in 1967; the newest appeared in 2018.
Release pace
Carson McCullers books have appeared about one every 6 years on average.
Length
2,728 pages across the 13 of 14 books with a recorded length, a median of 176 pages each.
Busiest decade
Most Carson McCullers books, 3 of 14, were published in the 1980s.

What the Carson McCullers books are about

13 of the 14 Carson McCullers books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: short stories is tagged on 3 of 13. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.