Patricia Highsmith

Patricia Highsmith (January 19, 1921 – February 4, 1995) was an American novelist and short story writer. She is famous for her psychological thrillers, including her series of five novels featuring the character Tom Ripley. Throughout her career, Patricia wrote 22 novels and numerous short stories. Her writing challenged ideas of identity and conventional morality, drawing inspiration from existentialist literature. Author Graham Greene named her "the poet of apprehension."

Patricia Highsmith's works have led to many successful film adaptations. Her debut novel, Strangers on a Train, has been adapted for both stage and screen, with Alfred Hitchcock's 1951 film as the most well-known adaptation of the book. Her 1955 novel The Talented Mr. Ripley has been made into numerous motion pictures. Writing under the pen name Claire Morgan, Highsmith published The Price of Salt, the first lesbian novel with a happy ending, in 1952. She later reprinted Carol, under her own name 38 years later. The novel was later adapted into a 2015 film "Carol" and remains one of the best LGBT-themed films of all time.

As an adult, Patricia Highsmith's sexual relationships were predominantly with women. She told writer Marijane Meaker in the late 1950s that she had "tried to like men. I like most men better than I like women, but not in bed", and same-sex relationships have always been a big theme in most of her works. Highsmith was a very private person, yet was loud and frank about her sexuality. "The only thing that separates us from heterosexuals, she told Meaker, is what we do in bed".