The Price of Salt (by Patricia Highsmith)

I've never read any of the Ripley novels or anything else by Highsmith, but I was intrigued by this book when I saw it on a friend's bookshelf. It was published under a pseudonym because Highsmith didn't want to be pigeonholed as a "lesbian writer" and this is the story of the erotic awakening of a young girl when she meets an older, more worldly woman at the department store where she works.

Absolutely pitch-perfect, I thought. Has a vaguely ominous tone at times, but is ultimately not a suspense novel in the way that I imagine her other novels are. Definitely makes me want to read more Highsmith... like Shirley Jackson, I have a feeling she's one of those underappreciated writers, relegated to "genre" status when she doesn't deserve to be. Anything else I say will give away too much of the plot... but I recommend it.