The Price of Salt, published in 1952 by Patricia Highsmith under the pseudonym Claire Morgan, is a groundbreaking novel of love between two women. Nineteen-year-old Therese Belivet, a young set designer working in a New York department store, meets the elegant and troubled Carol Aird during the Christmas season. Their chance encounter blossoms into a deep, mutual love that defies 1950s social conventions. When Carol's estranged husband threatens to use her sexuality against her in a custody battle, the two women embark on a road trip west, pursued by a private detective. Unusually for its era, the novel ends with hope.
