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To mark Patricia Highsmith’s centenary and the release of her never before published private diaries, journalist Sarah Dunant reveals the inside story behind the writing of The Price of Salt.

Highsmith published this love story between two women, based on her own experiences, in 1952 - under a pseudonym to avoid derailing her reputation as a thriller writer. She only admitted to being the author in a 1990 Â鶹Éç interview with Sarah Dunant. She never wrote another novel like it, and later became best known for her thrillers starring charming psychopath Tom Ripley.

Now, Sarah returns to the time when those ideas that defined Patricia’s iconic characters and novels were first forged - in the pages of a personal romance.

Framed around diary readings by Miranda Richardson, and featuring interviews with biographer Andrew Wilson, forensic psychiatrist Gwen Adshead and screen writer Phyllis Nagy who adapted the Price of Salt as a hit 2015 film starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara.

Book extracts courtesy: Virago and imprint of the Little, Brown Book Group (’The Talented Mr Ripley’), Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (‘Carol’). Diary readings from ‘Diaries and Notebooks: 1941-1995 by Patricia Highsmith, published by Wiedenfeld & Nicolson, Text © 2021 Diogenes Verlag AG Zürich.

Presented by Sarah Dunant
Produced by Clem Hitchcock
A Just Radio production for Â鶹Éç Radio 4
Patricia Highsmith by Rolf Tietgens, Photo Courtesy: Keith De Lellis Gallery (NY).