Even if her name doesn’t register at first, there’s a good chance that if you love psychological thrillers, you’ve read Patricia Highsmith–or you’ve run across one of her novels adapted into film. Born Mary Patricia Plangman in 1921, her parents divorced nine days after her birth, and she had a tumultuous childhood with her mother and stepfather in New York. Her abiding love of reading and diary-writing undoubtedly helped her to foster her individualism, resilience, and creative voice. She graduated from Barnard College in 1942 with an English Literature degree, and initially worked as a writer for comic books, while also embarking on her own work.
Just short of her 30th birthday, in 1950 she published her breakaway novel, Strangers on a Train–which was famously adapted into a movie by iconic director, Alfred Hitchcock. She subsequently (under a pseudonym) published The Price of Salt–a pioneering “forbidden love” romance novel about a lesbian relationship that was adapted into the 2015 film, Carol. Another major success followed with The Talented Mr. Ripley (1955), which introduced the character of con man, Tom Ripley who would go on to feature in several other novels.The Talented Mr. Ripley has had numerous screen adaptations, including the 1999 film starring Matt Damon and the 2024 series, Ripley.
Highsmith divided her time between New York and abroad for various stretches of time throughout the 50s and 60s, before permanently relocating to Europe in 1963–first in Positano, then London. She had an affair with a married English woman, but otherwise little else is known about her personal life. She and her lover separated in 1966, and she moved to France. After an episode of ill health and tax problems, she relocated to Switzerland where she remained for the rest of her life. Nevertheless: during this time her popularity as a novelist continued to rise among critics and audiences–the demand for her work persisted until the end of her life. And yet in spite of achieving so much acclaim, Highsmith remained as reclusive and mysterious as many of her characters.
After a career spanning five decades, 22 novels, countless short stories, and numerous screen adaptations, Highsmith died in 1995 at the age of 74. She bequeathed her estate to the Yaddo artist’s colony in Saratoga Springs, NY–where she’d spent time in 1948 writing the draft of Strangers on the Train.
If you love books with not only great suspense, but also deeply layered and complicated characters, check out the Patricia Highsmith works below.
Books by Patricia Highsmith
- Strangers on a Train (1950)
- The Blunderer (1954)
- The Talented Mr. Ripley (1955)
- Deep Water (1957)
- A Suspension of Mercy (1960)
- This Sweet Sickness (1960)
- The Two Faces of January (1964)
- The Cry of the Owl (1964)
- The Tremor of Forgery (1969)
- Ripley Under Ground (1970)
- Ripley’s Game (1974)
- The Boy Who Followed Ripley (1980)
- People Who Knock on the Door (1983)
- Found in the Street (1986)
- Ripley Under Water (1991)
- Small g: A Summer Idyll (1995)
- The Animal-Lover’s Book of Beastly Murder (short stories, 1975)
See books by Patricia Highsmith on Audiobooks, Barnes & Noble, or Amazon/Audible.
Audiobooks by Patricia Highsmith
- The Talented Mr. Ripley
- Strangers on a Train
- Ripley Under Ground
- A Suspension of Mercy
- The Price of Salt (Carol)
- Deep Water
- The Two Faces of January
- This Sweet Sickness
- The Blunderer
Biographies, Letters, and Diaries
- The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Double Life of Patricia Highsmith by Joan Schenkar (2009)
- Beautiful Shadow: A Life of Patricia Highsmith by Andrew Wilson (2003)
- Patricia Highsmith: Her Diaries and Notebooks, 1941-1995, edited by Anna von Planta (2021)
- Patricia Highsmith’s Diaries and Notebooks: The New York Years, 1941-1950, edited by Anna von Planta (2022).
Quotes by Patricia Highsmith
- “My imagination functions much better when I don’t have to speak to people.”
- “I feel I stand in a desert with my hands outstretched, and you are not willing to give me a drop of water.”
- “He loved possessions, not masses of them, but a select few that he did not part with. They gave a man self-respect. Not ostentation but quality.” (The Talented Mr. Ripley)
- “I know you have it in you, Guy… the capacity to be terribly happy.” (Strangers on a Train)
- “There was something demoniacal and insuperable about typographical errors, as if they were part of the natural evil that permeated man’s existence.” (Deep Water)
- “Do people always fall in love with things they can’t have?’ ‘Always,’ Carol said, smiling, too.” (The Price of Salt)
- “Forever, Tom thought. Maybe he’d never go back to the States.” (The Talented Mr. Ripley)
Find Patricia Highsmith on Audiobooks, Amazon/Audible, and Bookstores who are not Amazon.
You might also enjoy Some of the Best Audible Books Ever.
Check out this excellent New York Times piece The Essential Patricia Highsmith.
Articles include affiliate links, which may provide a small compensation to Noovella.
