As part of our Virago Modern Classics 40th anniversary celebrations, the Virago team have each chosen a favourite title from the #VMC40 series. Each month, we will introduce the book and share with you why we love it. This December our #VMC40 book of the month is Deep Water by Patricia Highsmith Deep Water By…
Virago Modern Classics Book Club, December 2018 Deep Water by Patricia Highsmith This December we are reading the chilling Deep Water by Patricia Highsmith. ‘If I really don’t like somebody, I kill him . . . You remember Malcolm McRae, don’t you?’ Melinda Van Allen is beautiful, headstrong and sexy. Unfortunately for Vic…
February’s Virago Modern Classic book club selection was Deep Water, by the ‘original, gloriously twisted Queen of suspense’ Patricia Highsmith. The novel was first published in 1957, and counts Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn among it’s many fans. The Virago Modern Classic edition includes material from Flynn, taken from her Wall Street Journal interview on the…
Read an extract from Patricia Highsmith’s iconic crime novel, Strangers on a Train. The train tore along with an angry, irregular rhythm. It was having to stop at smaller and more frequent stations, where it would wait impatiently for a moment, then attack the prairie again. But progress was imperceptible. The prairie only undulated, like…
Crime author Sarah Hilary writes on the legacy that Patricia Highsmith has left for today’s authors of grip-lit and domestic noir. There’s a deliciously domestic moment at the very start of Ripley Underground as Tom tackles a build-up of moss on the back steps of his home, Belle Ombre. Here is Highsmith’s notorious anti-hero,…
To celebrate the reissuing of Patricia Highsmith’s backlist this year, we’ve pulled together some of her best and most memorable quotes. These painstakingly honest words let us into the mind – if only for a moment – of this astounding author, whose timeless books continue to inspire writers and film makers today. …
