What is the title of the 1962 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Edwin O'Connor?

The Edge of Sadness is Edwin O’Connor’s 1962 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.

The novel is narrated by Father Hugh Kennedy, a Catholic priest who returns to his New England hometown after years away. His homecoming brings him back into contact with the Carmody family, whose history includes wealth, conflict, and emotional damage. The story examines guilt, alcoholism, memory, and the possibility of spiritual renewal.

O’Connor had already achieved attention with The Last Hurrah, a 1956 novel about an aging Boston mayor. That earlier book is sometimes mistakenly identified as his Pulitzer winner, but it received no Pulitzer for Fiction. The award instead went to The Edge of Sadness six years later.

The novel’s title reflects its restrained, introspective tone. Rather than presenting a broad political drama, O’Connor focuses on personal relationships and the difficult process of confronting old wounds. Its religious setting is central, but the book also works as a portrait of a changing American community.