Check nearby libraries
Buy this book

'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)
Check nearby libraries
Buy this book

Previews available in: Chinese English
Subjects
collectionID:Sleazy_pulp, Fiction, Lesbians, Lesbian romance novel, Lesbian love story, Divorce, Child custody, Road trip, Fiction, action & adventure, Social conditions, Family relationships, Mothers, Automobile travel, Nineteen fifties, Custody of children, Lesbians, fiction, Fiction, romance, general, Fiction, lesbian, Fiction, romance, fantasy, LGBTQ novels, Romance, Lesbian, Media Tie-In, Fiction, mystery & detective, general, Fiction, lgbtq+, lesbian, Fiction, lgbtq+, gay, LGBTQ novels before Stonewall, Classics, Literary, Psychological, English & college success -> english -> fictionPlaces
New York, New Jersey, Chicago, United StatesTimes
1950s, 20th centuryShowing 11 featured editions. View all 72 editions?
Edition | Availability |
---|---|
01 |
cccc
|
02 |
cccc
|
03
Carol
2015, Bloomsbury, Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
in English
- Revised edition.
140886567X 9781408865675
|
eeee
|
04 |
eeee
|
05 |
eeee
|
06
Carol
2015, Norton & Company, Incorporated, W. W., W. W. Norton & Company
in English
0393352684 9780393352689
|
eeee
|
07
The price of salt
2004, W. W. Norton, W.W. Norton
in English
- Rev. ed. / with an afterword by the author, Patricia Highsmith.
0393325997 9780393325997
|
eeee
|
08 |
cccc
|
09
Carol. Roman einer ungewöhnlichen Liebe.
September 1, 1992, Diogenes Verlag
Paperback
3257224877 9783257224870
|
cccc
|
10
The price of salt
1991, Naiad Press
in English
- Rev. ed. / with an afterword by the author, Patricia Highsmith.
1562800035 9781562800031
|
cccc
|
11 |
aaaa
|
Book Details
Edition Notes
First published in the USA under the title The Price of Salt, 1952
Afterword by the Author
Jacket design by the Senate
The jacket shows 'L'Abandon, les Deux Amies' by Henri Toulouse-Lautrec
Author's photograph by Sophie Bassouls/Sygma
The Physical Object
Edition Identifiers
Work Identifiers
Work 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.
Community Reviews (0)
History
- Created April 29, 2008
- 9 revisions
Wikipedia citation
×CloseCopy and paste this code into your Wikipedia page. Need help?
March 3, 2021 | Edited by lisaBot | moving edition(s) to primary work |
April 24, 2017 | Edited by QT | copyright |
April 24, 2017 | Edited by QT | notes |
April 24, 2017 | Edited by QT | Edited without comment. |
April 29, 2008 | Created by an anonymous user | Imported from amazon.com record |