The Mortgaged Heart is an important collection of Carson McCullers"e;s work, including stories, essays, articles, poems, and her writing on writing. These pieces, written mostly before McCullers was nineteen, provide invaluable insight into her life and her gifts and growth as a writer. The collection also contains the the working outline of "e;The Mute,"e; which became her best-selling novel The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter.