The Price of Salt
First edition
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| Author | Patricia Highsmith |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Published | 1952 |
| Publisher | Coward-McCann, W. W. Norton & Company (2004) |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 276 pp (hardcover edition) 288 pp (trade paperback edition) |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 55121342 |
| LC Class | PZ3.H53985 Pr (LCCN 52008026) |
The Price of Salt (later republished under the title Carol) is a 1952 romance novel by Patricia Highsmith, first published under the pseudonym "Claire Morgan". Highsmith – known as a suspense writer based on her psychological thriller Strangers on a Train – used an alias because she did not want to be tagged as "a lesbian-book writer", and because of the use of her own life references for characters and occurrences in the story. Though Highsmith had many sexual and romantic relationships with women and wrote over 22 novels and numerous short stories, The Price of Salt is her only novel about an explicit lesbian relationship. The novel's relatively happy ending was unprecedented in lesbian literature.
A radio adaptation of the novel was broadcast in 2014. Carol, a film adaptation nominated for six Academy Awards, was released in 2015.
Therese Belivet is a lonely young woman, just beginning her adult life in Manhattan and looking for her chance to launch her career as a theatre set designer. When she was a small girl, her widowed mother sent her to an Episcopalian boarding school, leaving her with a sense of abandonment. Therese is dating Richard, a young man she does not love and does not enjoy having sex with. On a long and monotonous day, working in the toy department of the department store, Therese becomes interested in a customer, an elegant and beautiful woman in her early thirties. The woman, Carol Aird, gives Therese her address to have her purchases delivered. On an impulse, Therese sends Carol a Christmas card. Carol, who is going through a difficult separation and divorce and is herself quite lonely, unexpectedly responds. The two begin to spend time together. Therese develops a strong attachment to Carol. Richard accuses Therese of having a "schoolgirl crush", but Therese knows it is more than that: She is in love with Carol.
Carol's husband, Harge, is suspicious of Carol's relationship with Therese, whom he meets briefly when Therese stays over at Carol's house in New Jersey. Carol had previously admitted to Harge that she had a short-lived sexual relationship years earlier with her best friend, Abby. Harge takes his and Carol's daughter Rindy to live with him, limiting Carol's access to her as divorce proceedings continue. To escape from the tension in New York, Carol and Therese take a road trip West as far as Utah, over the course of which it becomes clear that the feelings they have for each other are romantic and sexual. They become physically as well as emotionally intimate and declare their love for each other.
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Wikipedia