'Their eyes met at the same instant, Therese glancing up from a box she was opening, and the woman just turning her head so she looked directly at Therese. She was tall and fair, her long figure graceful in the loose fur coat that she held open with a hand on her waist. Her eyes were grey, colourless, yet dominant as light or fire, and, caught by them, Therese could not look away.'

When this remarkable novel was published under a pseudonym in 1952, it was said to be the first gay book with a happy ending. To encounter Therese and Carol four decades on is an enlightening experience. For this bold breakthrough, which prompted an avalanche of gratitude from readers, is as fresh, heartening and moving today.

Therese was nineteen – loved by a young man she cared about, but could not desire. Secretly she dreaded their planned trip to Europe. It was in the Christmas rush of Frankenberg's toy department that Carol made her first appearance. She was a sophisticated married woman, buying gifts for her daughter; Therese a burgeoning stage designer whose temporary sales job – perhaps even her whole life – now seemed to have no other purpose than this startling meeting.

Theirs was to be a love story gently, tentatively unfolding one moment, plunged into crisis and recrimination the next. In the hands of Patricia Highsmith it is a spellbinding journey of courage, self-discovery, and profound human feeling.

Born in Texas, Patricia Highsmith has spent much of her life in England, France and Switzerland. Best known for her mastery of suspense, her most recent publication is Tales of Natural and Unnatural Catastrophes. (Dust jacket blurb)