Join us for “Dusting Off the Classics." This month's selection is a special cross-over with our Reading the Rainbow group for lesbian classic The Price of Salt, also known as Carol, by Patricia Highsmith. We will be meeting in the Applegate Room at the lower level of the library, or you may join us virtually. 

Patricia Highsmith's story of sexual obsession may be one of the most important, but still largely unrecognized, novels of the twentieth century. First published in 1952 under the pseudonym Claire Morgan and touted as "the novel of a love society forbids," the book soon became a cult classic. Yet it was always relegated to a mystery subgenre and never before given the literary recognition that it is now receiving. Based on a true story plucked from Highsmith's own life, The Price of Salt tells the riveting story of Therese Belivet, a stage designer trapped in a department store day job, whose routine is forever shattered by an erotic epiphany - the appearance of Carol Aird, a customer who comes in to buy her daughter a Christmas toy. Therese begins to stalk the alluring suburban housewife, who is trapped in a marriage as stultifying as Therese's job. They fall in love and set out across the United States, pursued by a private investigator who eventually blackmails Carol in a choice between her daughter and her lover.

Come pick up a copy at the library, or check it out virtually on OverDrive or Hoopla.

Christopher Proctor is an academic librarian and faculty member at Indiana University Southeast Library.