The Price of Salt by Claire Morgan Summary

The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith (published under pseudonym Claire Morgan) tells the story of Therese Belivet, a 19-year-old department store clerk who falls in love with Carol Aird, an elegant married woman in 1950s Manhattan. Their forbidden romance leads to a cross-country road trip as they navigate societal pressures, Carol's divorce, and the threat of losing custody of her daughter. The novel explores lesbian love during an era when such relationships were deeply stigmatized.

The Price of Salt appeals to readers interested in LGBTQ literature, groundbreaking historical fiction, and character-driven romance. Anyone who appreciates Patricia Highsmith's spare, elegant prose or enjoys stories about forbidden love and personal transformation will find value here. The novel is particularly significant for those seeking classic lesbian literature with a hopeful ending—a rarity when published in 1952. Fans of literary fiction exploring themes of identity, societal constraints, and emotional authenticity will also appreciate this work.

The Price of Salt is worth reading as a pioneering work of lesbian fiction and a beautifully written love story. Patricia Highsmith's spare, clear prose captures the intensity of new love with emotional honesty and keen observation. As the only lesbian novel with a happy ending available for years after its 1952 publication, it became a cult classic. While some readers find the road trip section slow-paced, the novel's courageous portrayal of same-sex love and character development make it culturally significant and emotionally resonant.

Patricia Highsmith wrote The Price of Salt in 1952 under the pseudonym Claire Morgan. At age 27, Highsmith was inspired by seeing a woman in a mink coat while working at Bloomingdale's during Christmas. She used a pseudonym because publishing a lesbian romance with a happy ending was professionally risky in the 1950s, and she feared it would damage her emerging reputation as a crime novelist after Strangers on a Train. Highsmith later publicly distanced herself from the book, calling it "stinking," though it became her most beloved work.

The Price of Salt explores lesbian spaces and the need for safe havens in a heteronormative 1950s society. The novel examines how Carol and Therese must conceal their relationship behind closed doors—in homes and hotel rooms—while maintaining heteronormative facades in public. Other major themes include the invasion of privacy when Harge hires a detective to record their intimate moments, the tension between personal authenticity and societal expectations, and the transformative power of love as Therese matures from a naive young woman into someone confident and self-aware.

The Price of Salt ends with a hopeful reunion rather than tragedy, which made it revolutionary for 1952. After Carol loses partial custody of her daughter Rindy due to evidence of her relationship with Therese, the couple separates. Carol must choose between her daughter and her authentic self. Ultimately, Carol and Therese reconnect, suggesting they will build a life together despite societal consequences. This positive ending made the novel a beacon of hope for LGBTQ readers when virtually all other lesbian fiction ended in death or despair.

The road trip in The Price of Salt represents liberation from societal constraints and heteronormative expectations. As Carol and Therese travel westward to Utah, they escape the suffocating atmosphere of Carol's family home—described as "a hollow monument to middle-class heteronormativity". The journey allows them to explore their romantic and sexual feelings freely, declaring their love and becoming physically intimate. However, this freedom is violated when Harge's detective follows them, tape-recording their private moments, which ultimately forces their return to harsh reality.

Carol Aird represents sophistication, experience, and the painful compromises queer women faced in 1950s America. As a wealthy, elegant woman trapped in a failing marriage, Carol embodies the conflict between societal expectations and personal authenticity. Her previous relationship with her friend Abby shows this wasn't her first same-sex attraction. Carol's willingness to risk losing custody of her daughter Rindy to pursue genuine love demonstrates both her courage and the devastating choices forced upon LGBTQ parents during this era. She serves as both romantic ideal and cautionary tale.

Therese Belivet transforms from a naive, vulnerable 19-year-old into a confident, self-aware woman. Initially working at a department store while dating Richard (whom she doesn't love), Therese is orphaned emotionally—her father died young and her mother sent her to boarding school. Her love for Carol awakens her true self and artistic ambitions as a stage designer. Through their relationship, Therese develops from being "obsessively smitten" to gaining "a sympathetic grasp of who Carol is", ultimately choosing authentic love over comfortable heteronormative expectations with Richard.

The Price of Salt was groundbreaking as the only lesbian novel with a happy ending available for decades after its 1952 publication. Published during an intensely homophobic era, Patricia Highsmith's decision to write a realistic love story between two women—without tragedy, punishment, or death—was extraordinarily courageous. The novel became a cult classic, offering hope to LGBTQ readers who found only despair in other literature. Its influence extended through generations until the 2015 film adaptation Carol brought renewed attention to this pioneering work of queer literature.

Common criticisms of The Price of Salt include the slow pacing during the road trip section, which some readers find "painfully slow" and "distressingly hard to read". Some critics note that Therese knows little about Carol despite claiming to love her, creating shallow characterization. The prose style, while praised as "spare" and "clear" by admirers, strikes others as lacking spirit and passion. Additionally, some modern readers find the power imbalance between the naive teenager and sophisticated older woman problematic, though this age-gap dynamic was less scrutinized in 1950s literature.

The Price of Salt stands apart as Patricia Highsmith's only novel without violent crime and her sole work celebrating romantic love. Unlike her psychological thrillers like The Talented Mr. Ripley and Strangers on a Train, this novel focuses on emotional intimacy rather than murder and sociopathy. However, Highsmith's signature noir elements appear during the road trip—detectives, roadside diners, motel rooms, cigarettes, and a gun in a suitcase. While her crime fiction explores dark human nature, The Price of Salt examines "the painful delicate aches of love" with the same psychological insight and spare prose style that defines her other work.