Mary McCarthy. Stated first edition. New York: Harcourt, Brace & Company, 1955. Both unclipped dust jacket and hardcover are in Very Good+ condition. Original price $3.95 on the front flap of the dust jacket. Jacket designed by Leonid. No markings or writing found in this copy, other than former owner signature on flyleaf, 313 pp.
A Charmed Life is Mary McCarthy’s third novel, set in the fictional New England artist colony of “New Leeds”—a thinly veiled version of Cape Cod. The book follows Martha Sinnott, a woman trying to reclaim a sense of personal identity after remarrying her ex-husband. As she re-enters the tight-knit, intellectual, and often hypocritical community she once fled, Martha confronts the cultural pretensions and emotional manipulations of her peers. McCarthy dissects mid-century American bohemia with sharp wit, examining themes of conformity, intellectual posturing, and female agency. The novel is notable for its precise prose and penetrating psychological insight.
