Highsmith: A Romance of the 1950s begins like a brainy, romantic novel complete with exotic settings, fast-paced dialogue, and a who’s who of the 1950s New York literati. All this should not be surprising given that Marijane Meaker’s tale of her two-year relationship with famed mystery novelist Patricia Highsmith comes from a pen that has crafted more than 40 works of fiction and non-fiction.

Meaker’s touch is light and clear. She backlights her memoir with glimpses of the New York scene of the era: the Mafia-controlled lesbian bars, the rise of Fire Island, the rage for Freudian psychoanalysis. She doesn't attempt a detailed literary biography, nor is the book a complete psychological portrait of Highsmith. But Meaker, a self-proclaimed lover of pseudonymous disguises, does peer beneath Highsmith’s public mask to reveal her constant despair over a disapproving mother, her fascination/obsession with Germany, and her discomfort around intellectuals. This, and Meaker’s persistent jealousy and constant fear that her beloved Pat would leave her to write in Europe slowly edges the narrative into darker territory. Inevitably, the lovers part, as each author kills off the other, albeit in fictional form, with their first post-relationship murder mysteries.

Meaker closes the book by describing her difficult 1992 reunion with Highsmith. Meaker depicts her ex-lover as a hard-drinking, grizzled, chain-smoking, bigoted woman recently returned from Europe and recovering from a bout with lung cancer. Far from the bright beginnings of young love in the 1950s, this segment provides a depth absent from the earlier, more novelistic chapters and provides a glimpse of what a further, more complete biography might have to offer. --Patrick O’Kelley

New York Times
"…a confessional style animates 'Highsmith,' [Meaker's] sincere account of their relatioinship, which took place between 1959 and 1961."

Boston Globe
"Meaker's memoir is a wonderful book....a romance in so many ways."

Dallas Star-Telegram
"…written with intelligence…a fascinating study of Highsmith…"

Toronto Globe & Mail
"...a fascinating chronicle of life among the New York literati and the city's lesbian scene of the era..."

Diva (UK), October 2003
Gives an intimate insight into lesbian relationships as lived in 1950s America—not the easiest of times to be openly queer…

Book Description
Patricia Highsmith, author of classics such as The Talented Mr. Ripley and The Price of Salt, was a lesbian who defied categorization during the postwar period. Her dynamic, often difficult life coupled with her sinister crime stories and upbeat lesbian pulp fiction challenged popular stereotypes about homosexuality as well as women writers. To aspiring young novelist Marijane Meaker, however, Highsmith was more than a role model. During their two-year romance amidst the bohemian set of Greenwich Village and the literary crowd of the Hamptons, the pair navigated the underground lesbian bar scene, lunched with literary stars like Janet Flanner, shared intimacies, gossiped with abandon, and maintained a steady routine of writing and heavy drinking. Written with wit and brassy candor, this is a rare and revealing look at the life and loves of a controversial icon of popular American fiction.

FROM THE PUBLISHER