Published in 1942, Mary McCarthy's first novel creates a fascinating portrait of a 1930s New York social circle.

Features vivid and perceptive descriptions of two great Italian cities, Florence and Venice, told through their history and art. The author depicts Florence through its tempestuous past, from the reign of the Medicis to Savonarola's bonfire of the vanities, and Venice as a city of illusion and spectacle, and carnival and commerce.

Many a time in the course of doing these memoirs, I have wished that I were writing fiction. These are Mary McCarthy's words as she blends memories with family myths to take us back to the twenties, when she was orphaned in a world of relations as colourful, potent and mysterious as the Catholic religion itself.

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