Carol
First published 1952 · English · 311 pages
- Novels
- Love and romance
- Mystery and crime
Carol is a love story set in New York in the early 1950s. Therese Belivet is a shy young woman working in a department store, dreaming of a career as a stage designer. One day she serves an elegant older customer, Carol Aird, and the two women form a bond that quickly deepens.
Carol is in the middle of a painful divorce and a fight over her daughter, and the pressures of society weigh on both women as they set out on a journey west. Highsmith first published it under the name Claire Morgan. It was remarkable for its time because it allowed its central relationship a hopeful course.
Quotes
Just when you think it can't get any worse, you run out of cigarettes.
I never looked like that. [to Therese, admiring her nude body]
My angel. Flung out of space. [to Therese when they pause to look at each other during sex for the first time]
I took what you gave willingly. It's not your fault, Therese.