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Cover of The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith

The Price of Salt

Patricia Highsmith

  • 276 pages · about 5 hours
  • First published 1952
  • 72 editions
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1 About this book

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.

Good for readers who want: adventure and a love story.

  • Adventure
  • Family relationships
  • Romance
  • Romance, fantasy
  • Mystery
  • Political science
  • Political ethics
  • Lesbians

2 About Patricia Highsmith

1921–1995

Patricia Highsmith (born Mary Patricia Plangman; 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 in a career spanning nearly five decades, and her work has led to more than two dozen film adaptations.

Bio adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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