The Price of Salt
Patricia Highsmith (1921–1995)
W. W. Norton & Company • February 23, 2004 • 288 pages
About the Author
Patricia Highsmith
1921-1995
Patricia Highsmith (January 19, 1921 – February 4, 1995) was an American novelist and short story writer widely known for her psychological thrillers, including her series of five novels featuring the...
Patricia Highsmith (January 19, 1921 – February 4, 1995) was an American novelist and short story writer widely known for her psychological thrillers, including her series of five novels featuring the character Tom Ripley. She wrote 22 novels and numerous short stories throughout her career spanning nearly five decades, and her work has led to more than two dozen film adaptations. Her writing derived influence from existentialist literature, and questioned notions of identity and popular morality. She was dubbed "the poet of apprehension" by novelist Graham Greene. Her first novel, *Strangers on a Train*, has been adapted for stage and screen, the best known being the Alfred Hitchcock film released in 1951. Her 1955 novel *The Talented Mr. Ripley* has been adapted for film. Writing under the pseudonym **Claire Morgan**, Highsmith published the first lesbian novel with a happy ending, *The Price of Salt*, in 1952, republished 38 years later as Carol under her own name and later adapted into a 2015 film. **Source**: [Patricia Highsmith](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patricia_Highsmith) on Wikipedia
Description
THE PRICE OF SALT is the famous lesbian love story by Patricia Highsmith, written under the pseudonym Claire Morgan. The author became notorious due to the story's latent lesbian content and happy ending, the latter having been unprecedented in homosexual fiction. Highsmith recalled that the novel was inspired by a mysterious woman she happened across in a shop and briefly stalked. Because of the happy ending (or at least an ending with the possibility of happiness) which defied the lesbian pulp formula and because of the unconventional characters that defied stereotypes about homosexuality, THE PRICE OF SALT was popular among lesbians in the 1950s. The book fell out of print but was re-issued and lives on today as a pioneering work of lesbian romance.
This Edition
Popular Tags
Popular tags defined by the community