Slowly, Slowly in the Wind: A Virago Modern Classic

Patricia Highsmith

Mar 2014 · Hachette UK

About this ebook

BY THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE TALENTED MR RIPLEY, CAROL AND STRANGERS ON A TRAIN

'For eliciting the menace that lurks in familiar surroundings, there's no one like Patricia Highsmith' TIME

'Highsmith neatly dismantles the American suburban idyll, subverting the cliches of domestic bliss' ANDREW WILSON

'Highsmith's writing is wicked . . . it puts a spell on you, after which you feel altered, even tainted' ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

Slowly, Slowly in the Wind brilliantly assembles many of Patricia Highsmith's most nuanced and psychologically suspenseful works. Each of these twelve pieces, like all great short fiction, is a crystal-clear snapshot of lives both static and full of chaos.

In 'The Pond' Highsmith explores the unforeseen calamities that can unalterably shatter a single woman's life, while 'The Network' finds sinister loneliness and joy in the mundane yet engrossing friendships of a small community of urban dwellers.

In this enduring and disturbing collection, Highsmith evokes the gravity and horror of her characters' surroundings with even-handed prose and detailed imagination.

About the author

Patricia Highsmith (1921-1995) was born in Fort Worth, Texas, and moved to New York when she was six. In her senior year, she edited the college magazine, having decided at the age of sixteen to become a writer. Her first novel, Strangers on a Train (1950), was made into a classic film by Alfred Hitchcock in 1951. The Talented Mr Ripley (1955), introduced the fascinating anti-hero Tom Ripley, and was made into an Oscar-winning film in 1999 by Anthony Minghella. Highsmith died in Locarno, Switzerland, in February 1995. Her last novel, Small g: A Summer Idyll, was published posthumously, the same year.