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Beautiful Shadow: A Life of Patricia Highsmith
'Bring[s] us as close to understanding Highsmith as we are ever likely to get' Sunday Telegraph
'An exemplary biography of a tortured, difficult and outstandingly gifted human being' Sunday Times
'Everything Wilson has unearthed is remarkable' Mail on Sunday
Patricia Highsmith – author of Strangers on a Train and The Talented Mr Ripley – had more than her fair share of secrets. During her life, she felt uncomfortable about discussing the source of her fiction and refused to answer questions about her private life. Yet after her death in February 1995, Highsmith left behind a vast archive of personal documents – diaries, notebooks and letters – which detail the links between her life and her work.
Drawing on these intimate papers, together with material gleaned from her closest friends and lovers, Andrew Wilson has written the first biography of an author described by Graham Greene as the 'poet of apprehension'. Wilson illuminates the dark corners of Highsmith's life, casts light on mysteries of the creative process and reveals the secrets that the writer chose to keep hidden until after her death.
WINNER OF THE EDGAR ALLAN POE AWARD
WINNER OF THE LAMBDA LITERARY AWARD
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WHITBREAD BIOGRAPHY AWARD
'An exemplary biography of a tortured, difficult and outstandingly gifted human being' Sunday Times
'Everything Wilson has unearthed is remarkable' Mail on Sunday
Patricia Highsmith – author of Strangers on a Train and The Talented Mr Ripley – had more than her fair share of secrets. During her life, she felt uncomfortable about discussing the source of her fiction and refused to answer questions about her private life. Yet after her death in February 1995, Highsmith left behind a vast archive of personal documents – diaries, notebooks and letters – which detail the links between her life and her work.
Drawing on these intimate papers, together with material gleaned from her closest friends and lovers, Andrew Wilson has written the first biography of an author described by Graham Greene as the 'poet of apprehension'. Wilson illuminates the dark corners of Highsmith's life, casts light on mysteries of the creative process and reveals the secrets that the writer chose to keep hidden until after her death.
WINNER OF THE EDGAR ALLAN POE AWARD
WINNER OF THE LAMBDA LITERARY AWARD
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WHITBREAD BIOGRAPHY AWARD
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 105 reviews
August 22, 2019
I’m not really a fan of Patricia Highsmith but I do like a good biography. And this isn’t one. The other day I was checking up a fact about Truman Capote and picked up Gerald Clarke’s book and was quite lost for about an hour as Truman leaped and gamboled through the pages, born aloft like a bubble in the air of my room by the controlled excitement of Mr Clarke’s narrative. Of course, Truman was a very witty, gregarious person, full of life until the horrors descended. Whereas Patricia Highsmith was a gloomy trout. In the early part of her life she was a young trout and in the later part she was an old trout. Therefore Andrew Wilson has a much tougher job than Gerald Clarke, I admit, but he thinks that writing a biography equates to heaping up a massive amount of detail backed up by a million little quotes, most of which contradict each other. And there’s more to it than that.
Andrew Wilson amasses terrible piles of information about PH’s travelling (constant), writing (perpetual) and affairs with women (like life before civil society, nasty, brutish and short – and also neverending, one after the other after the other). It seems nothing ever made PH happy. Hitchcock wants to film Strangers on a Train? Ehhh. Wins awards for The Talented Mr Ripley? Phhft. Meets ravishing new girlfriend? Whatever. Feted by the literati of two continents? Yeah, yeah.
Here’s what happens on page 184 :
After a few years with a woman named Ellen – you could have called it a love-hate relationship, but that would be an over-optimistic interpretation; it was a hate-hate relationship – PH decides one evening to go to a party; Ellen, beside herself with jealousy, rips PH’s shirt off her back then downs large Martinis and takes eight pills of veronal. PH leaves anyway and goes to have a hamburger with some friends, arriving back at 2am to find Ellen in a coma. She’s taken to Bellevue psych hospital.
The doctor at Bellevue gave Ellen a fifty-fifty chance of survival, but rather than hang around her bedside, Pat took her lover’s car and drove up to Fire Island with a friend for the Independence Day holiday weekend. … She sunbathed on the beach at Cherry Grove, posed for some pictures, and forced herself to work, “believing Ellen is dead at this point”. In the evening, after drinking heavily, she picked a fight with a bunch of girls who turned on her and beat her up.
So, er, what did you do last weekend?
****
Characteristic quote from page 219 - Mr Wilson is talking about a woman who was PH’s literary agent for twenty years :
The only time she can remember Highsmith laughing was when the writer saw “a poster-ad in the New York subway where some creep had gouged out the eyes of a child.”
***
I got up to page 250 and I thought – I can’t take any more Patricia Highsmith, she’s beginning to seriously depress me. And I’m only half way through! I’m outta here…!
****
Afterthought : I read another a biography about another thoroughly unhappy woman, Jean Rhys, written by Carole Angier, and it was brilliant. So just because your subject is a depressive, your biography doesn't have to be miserable.
Andrew Wilson amasses terrible piles of information about PH’s travelling (constant), writing (perpetual) and affairs with women (like life before civil society, nasty, brutish and short – and also neverending, one after the other after the other). It seems nothing ever made PH happy. Hitchcock wants to film Strangers on a Train? Ehhh. Wins awards for The Talented Mr Ripley? Phhft. Meets ravishing new girlfriend? Whatever. Feted by the literati of two continents? Yeah, yeah.
Here’s what happens on page 184 :
After a few years with a woman named Ellen – you could have called it a love-hate relationship, but that would be an over-optimistic interpretation; it was a hate-hate relationship – PH decides one evening to go to a party; Ellen, beside herself with jealousy, rips PH’s shirt off her back then downs large Martinis and takes eight pills of veronal. PH leaves anyway and goes to have a hamburger with some friends, arriving back at 2am to find Ellen in a coma. She’s taken to Bellevue psych hospital.
The doctor at Bellevue gave Ellen a fifty-fifty chance of survival, but rather than hang around her bedside, Pat took her lover’s car and drove up to Fire Island with a friend for the Independence Day holiday weekend. … She sunbathed on the beach at Cherry Grove, posed for some pictures, and forced herself to work, “believing Ellen is dead at this point”. In the evening, after drinking heavily, she picked a fight with a bunch of girls who turned on her and beat her up.
So, er, what did you do last weekend?
****
Characteristic quote from page 219 - Mr Wilson is talking about a woman who was PH’s literary agent for twenty years :
The only time she can remember Highsmith laughing was when the writer saw “a poster-ad in the New York subway where some creep had gouged out the eyes of a child.”
***
I got up to page 250 and I thought – I can’t take any more Patricia Highsmith, she’s beginning to seriously depress me. And I’m only half way through! I’m outta here…!
****
Afterthought : I read another a biography about another thoroughly unhappy woman, Jean Rhys, written by Carole Angier, and it was brilliant. So just because your subject is a depressive, your biography doesn't have to be miserable.
January 31, 2023
A few years ago I found a quote (I love quotes), by a certain Amy Hempel, that intrigued me:
“I read about a famous mystery writer who worked for one week in a department store. One day she saw a woman come in and buy a doll. The mystery writer found out the woman’s name, and took a bus to New Jersey to see where the woman lived. That was all. Years later, she referred to this woman as the love of her life. It is possible to imagine a person so entirely that the image resists attempts to dislodge it.”
I wondered who that mystery writer could have been, and I also identified with a mind that would daydream an entire life out of a moment and follow that obsession. That “mystery writer” was Patricia Highsmith.
While I was reading her This Sweet Sickness, about a loner unable to connect with people and who obsesses over a woman he loves, to the point of building a complete second identity, I identified with it, and how it was told, in a way that suggested that the writer was the kind of peculiar I was; hardly anyone knows about the depths of social blindness, isolation, anxiety and obsession (and attached maladies like obsessive-compulsive disorder and chronic depression) like autistic people.
Patricia Highsmith was a retiring, silent person with a tremendously dark interior world, who could not properly connect with anyone, who loved certain people when they were away but needed space when they were close. She considered herself to have a man’s brain, but didn’t want a man’s body, and was attracted to women, but didn’t particularly like them. She was a masochist who consistently “chose” to love women who bossed her around and hurt her. She smoked and drank so heavily that those vices destroyed her body, although, curiously enough, didn’t seem to have affected her mind. Her instincts didn’t align with the human world around her. She was hypersensitive to noises and being touched. She was clumsy and awkward. She was at her best while daydreaming or writing, but fell into horrible depressions the moment she came back to herself. She was never at ease with the world.
Almost everything about her screamed Asperger’s to me, but I can’t be objective about it. It was weird that nobody else caught it, until one of her friends did, as mentioned in this biography:
“In hindsight, I think Pat could have had a form of high-functioning Asperger’s Syndrome. She had a lot of typical traits. She had a terrible sense of direction, she would always get lost and whenever she went to the hairdresser’s she would have trouble parking even though she had been with me lots of times. She was hypersensitive to sound and had these communications difficulties. Most of us screen certain things, but she would spit out everything she thought. She was not aware of the nuances of conversation and she didn’t realise when she had hurt other people. That was probably why her love affairs never lasted very long, because she couldn’t overcome the difficulties in communicating. Although she didn’t really understand other people – she had such a strange interior world – she was a fantastic observer. She would see things that an average person would never experience.”
She wasn’t a recluse, however, like some journalists called her. She kept plenty of friends, travelled and invited people over, people who tolerated how weird she was. She never made it as big as she deserved mostly because she didn’t care to belong to a “writer’s community,” didn’t like to expose herself to the public (she considered interviews humiliating), and her stories usually failed to offer hope or platitudes.
Patricia was also a misanthrope who disliked or even hated way more stuff and people than she liked. She got in trouble for her opinions regarding black people, religion, and Israel. Having been born clearly different, she was a hardcore individualist that intended people to take responsibility for themselves. During the last half of her life, and having been on the brink of bankruptcy, never knowing if the next book was going to sell, she was very stingy with money, but in her will she left her millions to a writer’s retreat she spent a few weeks in while writing her first novel. She died alone in Switzerland, in a home designed as a bunker.
Despite all of her issues, reading about her has made me aware of a hole in the world, the kind that opens when a real human being goes away. I look forward to learning more about her, and about myself, while reading her stories.
“I read about a famous mystery writer who worked for one week in a department store. One day she saw a woman come in and buy a doll. The mystery writer found out the woman’s name, and took a bus to New Jersey to see where the woman lived. That was all. Years later, she referred to this woman as the love of her life. It is possible to imagine a person so entirely that the image resists attempts to dislodge it.”
I wondered who that mystery writer could have been, and I also identified with a mind that would daydream an entire life out of a moment and follow that obsession. That “mystery writer” was Patricia Highsmith.
While I was reading her This Sweet Sickness, about a loner unable to connect with people and who obsesses over a woman he loves, to the point of building a complete second identity, I identified with it, and how it was told, in a way that suggested that the writer was the kind of peculiar I was; hardly anyone knows about the depths of social blindness, isolation, anxiety and obsession (and attached maladies like obsessive-compulsive disorder and chronic depression) like autistic people.
Patricia Highsmith was a retiring, silent person with a tremendously dark interior world, who could not properly connect with anyone, who loved certain people when they were away but needed space when they were close. She considered herself to have a man’s brain, but didn’t want a man’s body, and was attracted to women, but didn’t particularly like them. She was a masochist who consistently “chose” to love women who bossed her around and hurt her. She smoked and drank so heavily that those vices destroyed her body, although, curiously enough, didn’t seem to have affected her mind. Her instincts didn’t align with the human world around her. She was hypersensitive to noises and being touched. She was clumsy and awkward. She was at her best while daydreaming or writing, but fell into horrible depressions the moment she came back to herself. She was never at ease with the world.
Almost everything about her screamed Asperger’s to me, but I can’t be objective about it. It was weird that nobody else caught it, until one of her friends did, as mentioned in this biography:
“In hindsight, I think Pat could have had a form of high-functioning Asperger’s Syndrome. She had a lot of typical traits. She had a terrible sense of direction, she would always get lost and whenever she went to the hairdresser’s she would have trouble parking even though she had been with me lots of times. She was hypersensitive to sound and had these communications difficulties. Most of us screen certain things, but she would spit out everything she thought. She was not aware of the nuances of conversation and she didn’t realise when she had hurt other people. That was probably why her love affairs never lasted very long, because she couldn’t overcome the difficulties in communicating. Although she didn’t really understand other people – she had such a strange interior world – she was a fantastic observer. She would see things that an average person would never experience.”
She wasn’t a recluse, however, like some journalists called her. She kept plenty of friends, travelled and invited people over, people who tolerated how weird she was. She never made it as big as she deserved mostly because she didn’t care to belong to a “writer’s community,” didn’t like to expose herself to the public (she considered interviews humiliating), and her stories usually failed to offer hope or platitudes.
Patricia was also a misanthrope who disliked or even hated way more stuff and people than she liked. She got in trouble for her opinions regarding black people, religion, and Israel. Having been born clearly different, she was a hardcore individualist that intended people to take responsibility for themselves. During the last half of her life, and having been on the brink of bankruptcy, never knowing if the next book was going to sell, she was very stingy with money, but in her will she left her millions to a writer’s retreat she spent a few weeks in while writing her first novel. She died alone in Switzerland, in a home designed as a bunker.
Despite all of her issues, reading about her has made me aware of a hole in the world, the kind that opens when a real human being goes away. I look forward to learning more about her, and about myself, while reading her stories.
November 29, 2019
A brisk, crisp 'life' of Patricia Highsmith. Wilson bases it on her journals, letters and interviews but keeps things moving and doesn't linger. In that sense, it's exactly the thing for someone who wants an overview of Highsmith's biography and a context for her writing without getting bogged down in detail.
It does become a tad repetitive as we keep being reminded that Highsmith was amoral, obsessed with issues of fractured identities and hidden selves, but it also manages to convey what a complex person she was, both politically and in terms of her relationship to the world and other people. Her many, many affairs are name-checked but never get prurient.
Having gulped down the Ripley books this year, this is exactly the potted biography I wanted. Wilson's discussions of Highsmith's writing is admiring without being sycophantic (beware: spoilers abound!) though never scholarly or deep.
I was especially interested to note Highsmith's own reading interests: Nietzsche, Dostoevsky, Camus, Sartre - so that her portrait of charming psychopath Tom Ripley is intellectually-inflected as well as being psychologically intriguing.
It's good to see that Highsmith's books which spill out of genre categorisations are being given more serious literary attention now - a quick read book that contextualises their author in interesting fashion.
It does become a tad repetitive as we keep being reminded that Highsmith was amoral, obsessed with issues of fractured identities and hidden selves, but it also manages to convey what a complex person she was, both politically and in terms of her relationship to the world and other people. Her many, many affairs are name-checked but never get prurient.
Having gulped down the Ripley books this year, this is exactly the potted biography I wanted. Wilson's discussions of Highsmith's writing is admiring without being sycophantic (beware: spoilers abound!) though never scholarly or deep.
I was especially interested to note Highsmith's own reading interests: Nietzsche, Dostoevsky, Camus, Sartre - so that her portrait of charming psychopath Tom Ripley is intellectually-inflected as well as being psychologically intriguing.
It's good to see that Highsmith's books which spill out of genre categorisations are being given more serious literary attention now - a quick read book that contextualises their author in interesting fashion.
May 5, 2016
Andrew Wilson's Beautiful Shadow: A Life of Patricia Highsmith is a comprehensive piece of reportage. Given access to the author's abundance of personal diaries, working journals, correspondence, and the many living acquaintances (family, friends, neighbors, publishers, lovers) quite willing to go on the record, you would expect little less. Yet the fundamental labor of the true biographer, at least from my perspective, is to go beyond the facts, beyond the proofs, beyond the dry history of a life to flesh out the human being. This is a labor Mr. Wilson has left largely undone. To be fair, his subject presents great challenge on this front...but, hey, he had to know that going in.
Patricia Highsmith had a troubled life that she worked very hard to keep private. The daughter of a Texas couple who divorced within a year of her birth, she was parked for the first four years of childhood with her aged grandmother. Deeply-conflicted over issues surrounding her identity and sexual orientation, she struggled with anorexia as a teen and funneled her search for self outward into literature, Christian Science and, later, the Communist party. She had difficulty coming to terms with where her libido led her. She felt very much a male imprisoned in a female body, and it is perhaps one of the grace notes of the transgender movement to enlighten the rest of us on just how complicated it can be to identify, in any specific sense, the nature of one's internal sexuality. Highsmith - in 1940, 1950, 1960 - possessed far less information to apply to her attempts at definition and so it comes as no real surprise to find her spending six months with a Manhattan psychotherapist in a concerted effort to turn straight. Equally unsurprising, it did not take.
Highsmith began writing in a professional sense during her college years, yet it wasn't until she'd attended Yaddo (through a recommendation from Tennessee Williams) that she managed to produce her first novel of note, Strangers on a Train. This was followed up shortly thereafter by The Price of Salt - published under a pseudonym and constituting a fictional exploration of a real-life encounter she'd had with a beautiful suburban housewife over a counter at Bloomingdales. The initial Ripley novel was percolating on her horizon. Prolific in every sense of the word, Wilson refers to the atmosphere of these febrile years as extreme - excessive in both drinking and "sexual buccaneering." Highsmith's literary voice, dark as it was, appeared very much to depend upon the light of fresh love in her life. Her relationships were legion, her mercurial spirit often cruel, her emotional comfort found (somewhat ironically) only in the arms of women who would dictate to her and ladle up a cauldroned feast of wretchedness and despair.
I am tempted to go on in an effort...I don't know...to right the wrong of this? But that's not why I'm here. It is important for you to know that I'm enriching the material in a way Andrew Wilson does not. Mr. Wilson remains at a relative remove. While he more than appreciates her literary genius, there is little wonder of the soul he chose to focus upon and this dispassionate approach is not appealing. Patricia Highsmith was a very complicated human being who, frankly, deserved far more in the way of insight than was on offer here. Hers was a hard life; bleak, restless, lonely, severe. Reporting it from such a distance, and with such aridity, elicits the impression of this woman as a sideshow. It is wrong-headed and, in certain respects, criminal. If there's one person you should be able to count on (posthumously) for a deep and abiding intimate concern, it should be your biographer. Yet once again she is marginalized. Objectified. Held at arm's length. And that just broke my heart.
Patricia Highsmith had a troubled life that she worked very hard to keep private. The daughter of a Texas couple who divorced within a year of her birth, she was parked for the first four years of childhood with her aged grandmother. Deeply-conflicted over issues surrounding her identity and sexual orientation, she struggled with anorexia as a teen and funneled her search for self outward into literature, Christian Science and, later, the Communist party. She had difficulty coming to terms with where her libido led her. She felt very much a male imprisoned in a female body, and it is perhaps one of the grace notes of the transgender movement to enlighten the rest of us on just how complicated it can be to identify, in any specific sense, the nature of one's internal sexuality. Highsmith - in 1940, 1950, 1960 - possessed far less information to apply to her attempts at definition and so it comes as no real surprise to find her spending six months with a Manhattan psychotherapist in a concerted effort to turn straight. Equally unsurprising, it did not take.
Highsmith began writing in a professional sense during her college years, yet it wasn't until she'd attended Yaddo (through a recommendation from Tennessee Williams) that she managed to produce her first novel of note, Strangers on a Train. This was followed up shortly thereafter by The Price of Salt - published under a pseudonym and constituting a fictional exploration of a real-life encounter she'd had with a beautiful suburban housewife over a counter at Bloomingdales. The initial Ripley novel was percolating on her horizon. Prolific in every sense of the word, Wilson refers to the atmosphere of these febrile years as extreme - excessive in both drinking and "sexual buccaneering." Highsmith's literary voice, dark as it was, appeared very much to depend upon the light of fresh love in her life. Her relationships were legion, her mercurial spirit often cruel, her emotional comfort found (somewhat ironically) only in the arms of women who would dictate to her and ladle up a cauldroned feast of wretchedness and despair.
I am tempted to go on in an effort...I don't know...to right the wrong of this? But that's not why I'm here. It is important for you to know that I'm enriching the material in a way Andrew Wilson does not. Mr. Wilson remains at a relative remove. While he more than appreciates her literary genius, there is little wonder of the soul he chose to focus upon and this dispassionate approach is not appealing. Patricia Highsmith was a very complicated human being who, frankly, deserved far more in the way of insight than was on offer here. Hers was a hard life; bleak, restless, lonely, severe. Reporting it from such a distance, and with such aridity, elicits the impression of this woman as a sideshow. It is wrong-headed and, in certain respects, criminal. If there's one person you should be able to count on (posthumously) for a deep and abiding intimate concern, it should be your biographer. Yet once again she is marginalized. Objectified. Held at arm's length. And that just broke my heart.
December 31, 2024
Çok beğendim. Bunun da en önemli sebebi yazar Andrew Wilson’un, Patricia Highsmith’in hayatının bilinmeyen köşelerine ışık tutmakla kalmaması, aynı zamanda onun zihnindeki “gölgeleri” de ustalıkla yansıtabilmesi. Highsmith’in çelişkili kişiliği, yalnızlığı, aşkları ve yazarlık yolculuğu öyle incelikle işlenmiş ki -hele bir de romanlarına aşinaysanız- detaylarla birlikte Highsmith’e dair resim her şeyiyle tamamlanıyor. Özellikle romanlara ilham veren olayları, kişileri öğrenmek çok hoşuma gitti. Hoşuma giden bir diğer şey de yazarın Highsmith’in dünyasını gereksiz bir kahramanlaştırmaya girişmeden olduğu gibi anlatması oldu. Highsmith’i seven herkes okumalı.
December 28, 2008
Patricia Highsmith (1921-1995) is best known for her disturbing books about sensitive and sympathetic psychopathic murderers (i.e. "Strangers on a Train" and "The Talented Mr. Ripley") - and for the movies they've inspired. Andrew Wilson's biography is fascinating, well researched and convincing; I don't know if I'd want to have dinner with Miss Highsmith, but at least I think I can understand a little "where she's coming from." The author Wilson would probably make a good novelist himself; he understands psychology, without being reductive or a follower of the Phil Donahue School of analysis. In many ways Highsmith was not a happy person, and she held many reprehensible beliefs about human nature and society, but she was a survivor, no doubt.
And she liked to read. I understand that, too. Here's Wilson describing Highsmith's fondness for solitary reading in her apartment - when she was in her early 20s:
"She had always been a voracious reader, but now she turned down invitations to dinner in favor of staying at home and immersing herself in the dark imaginative landscape of Thomas Mann, Strindberg, Goethe, Joyce, T.S. Eliot and Baudelaire. The mere thought that she was alone and surrounded by books gave her a near sensuous thrill. As she looked around her room, dark except for the slash of light near her lamp, and saw the vague outlines of her books, she asked herself, 'Have I not the whole world?'"
"Beautiful Shadow" is perhaps somewhat over-detailed, or maybe it just is that Highsmith's life lacks the kind of neat and tidy essence that makes for an elegant biography. On the other hand, Wilson is to be commended for his exhaustive research, AND for his ability to empathize with his subject, even at her most difficult.
And she liked to read. I understand that, too. Here's Wilson describing Highsmith's fondness for solitary reading in her apartment - when she was in her early 20s:
"She had always been a voracious reader, but now she turned down invitations to dinner in favor of staying at home and immersing herself in the dark imaginative landscape of Thomas Mann, Strindberg, Goethe, Joyce, T.S. Eliot and Baudelaire. The mere thought that she was alone and surrounded by books gave her a near sensuous thrill. As she looked around her room, dark except for the slash of light near her lamp, and saw the vague outlines of her books, she asked herself, 'Have I not the whole world?'"
"Beautiful Shadow" is perhaps somewhat over-detailed, or maybe it just is that Highsmith's life lacks the kind of neat and tidy essence that makes for an elegant biography. On the other hand, Wilson is to be commended for his exhaustive research, AND for his ability to empathize with his subject, even at her most difficult.
October 1, 2025
The talented Miss Highsmith. The secretive Miss Highsmith. The paradoxical, the introspective, the promiscuous Miss Highsmith. Obsessive—cruel—unstable—artistic—workaholic—miserly—lovesick—misanthropic—alcoholic—bigoted—racist—the eccentric, the tortured, the surprising Miss Highsmith. Have I mentioned paradoxical?
Highsmith considered herself a liberal, but at the same time blamed minorities for various societal woes (a literal hallmark of conservatism). She admired Margaret Thatcher (so liberal) yet despised Ronald Reagan (as one should), along with Christian nationalism. She supported abortion, and women's right to vote, yet abhorred feminism and considered men superior. She opposed the Vietnam War and rightly boycotted Israel and had a complex relationship with her mother, who died only four years before Highsmith. She carried snails in her purse at a cocktail party, and on several occasions hid six beneath each breast in order to smuggle them into France. Few think of Highsmith the visual artist, but she sketched and painted throughout her life, even if her writing took precedence.
Disillusioned with American society (who can blame her, really) Highsmith spent half of her life in Europe and dedicated the European edition of People Who Knock on the Door to "the courage of the Palestinian people and their leaders in the struggle to regain a part of their homeland." The dedication was dropped in the American edition for obvious reasons (you know, "50 States One Israel," as we've all just recently been so grossly reminded). Upon her death, aged 74, in 1995, she left behind dozens of notebooks and diaries—a biographer's dream. Many of the facts of her childhood—including the books she claims to have read—are based on her recollections and projections as an old woman, and although I took them with a grain of salt, Andrew Wilson clearly didn't. Or maybe Highsmith, in addition to all the rest of it, was also the Matilda of her time. I never would have pegged Highsmith as a soap opera fan, but apparently in her old age she was a fan of EastEnders. Surprising until the end.
Knowing what I now know about Patricia Highsmith, do I despise her as a person, as some can't seem to help doing? I don't, and some of that credit surely goes to Wilson, whose words are never malicious. Did I need the twists/ending of every one of her stories/novels? Not really, no.
Highsmith considered herself a liberal, but at the same time blamed minorities for various societal woes (a literal hallmark of conservatism). She admired Margaret Thatcher (so liberal) yet despised Ronald Reagan (as one should), along with Christian nationalism. She supported abortion, and women's right to vote, yet abhorred feminism and considered men superior. She opposed the Vietnam War and rightly boycotted Israel and had a complex relationship with her mother, who died only four years before Highsmith. She carried snails in her purse at a cocktail party, and on several occasions hid six beneath each breast in order to smuggle them into France. Few think of Highsmith the visual artist, but she sketched and painted throughout her life, even if her writing took precedence.
Disillusioned with American society (who can blame her, really) Highsmith spent half of her life in Europe and dedicated the European edition of People Who Knock on the Door to "the courage of the Palestinian people and their leaders in the struggle to regain a part of their homeland." The dedication was dropped in the American edition for obvious reasons (you know, "50 States One Israel," as we've all just recently been so grossly reminded). Upon her death, aged 74, in 1995, she left behind dozens of notebooks and diaries—a biographer's dream. Many of the facts of her childhood—including the books she claims to have read—are based on her recollections and projections as an old woman, and although I took them with a grain of salt, Andrew Wilson clearly didn't. Or maybe Highsmith, in addition to all the rest of it, was also the Matilda of her time. I never would have pegged Highsmith as a soap opera fan, but apparently in her old age she was a fan of EastEnders. Surprising until the end.
Knowing what I now know about Patricia Highsmith, do I despise her as a person, as some can't seem to help doing? I don't, and some of that credit surely goes to Wilson, whose words are never malicious. Did I need the twists/ending of every one of her stories/novels? Not really, no.
February 7, 2012
You may not have heard of Patricia Highsmith, but you've almost definitely seen the films Strangers on a Train or The Talented Mr Ripley, which were based on two of her most famous novels. I read this book on the advice of a literary magazine, and I can honestly say that it is one of the best biographies I have ever read. It was meticulously researched and extremely well-written, providing a model to all of us of what a good non-fiction book should be. Author Andrew Wilson did not try to avoid the embarrassing or awkward bits and paint a gorgeous posthumous picture or move in the other direction to spoil his subject's literary reputation, but has provided us with a balanced biography using facts, myriad interviews with her surviving friends, family, and publishing associates, and the pièce de résistance that crowned his research: her own thoughts, which were carefully recorded across her entire life and career in her cahiers (notebooks), and are today stored in the Swiss Literary Archives.
Through it all, Wilson writes in a stylish, touching manner: despite the facts that she was a very difficult person, cantankerous, often shy, an alcoholic loner who was almost at war with the world, I felt a lump in my throat as I read about her final days. A unique talent, her literary skills and output were considerable, and this excellent biography has made me want to read more of it.
Through it all, Wilson writes in a stylish, touching manner: despite the facts that she was a very difficult person, cantankerous, often shy, an alcoholic loner who was almost at war with the world, I felt a lump in my throat as I read about her final days. A unique talent, her literary skills and output were considerable, and this excellent biography has made me want to read more of it.
January 29, 2011
So far so good. I am on page 250. From some of the reviews I thought PH would be portrayed as an absolutely horrid person. She isn't. She was eccentric and quite self involved. Maybe on the next 250 pages she becomes evil. (She becomes a little more horrid as she ages.)
This was one of the greatest Biographies I have ever read. It was interesting and moved quickly. This biography also had to use every psychological theory on the planet to explain Highsmith's bizarre behavior. She really did not have that bad of a childhood. Some people are simply born screwy. The very fashionable Asbergers was also raised up as a possibility for her behavior.
My absolute favorite thing was the fact that she transported her beloved (live) snails 6-10 under each breast several times across Europe. It is explained often that this woman was bone thin so did she have inverted wallets or what holding those creatures in (under) there? I'm pretty sure this particular tidbit did not occur because mommy didn't give her a cookie when she was 4. Is that a snail under your breast or are you just happy to see me?
I have read one of her books and might try some more after reading the biography
This was one of the greatest Biographies I have ever read. It was interesting and moved quickly. This biography also had to use every psychological theory on the planet to explain Highsmith's bizarre behavior. She really did not have that bad of a childhood. Some people are simply born screwy. The very fashionable Asbergers was also raised up as a possibility for her behavior.
My absolute favorite thing was the fact that she transported her beloved (live) snails 6-10 under each breast several times across Europe. It is explained often that this woman was bone thin so did she have inverted wallets or what holding those creatures in (under) there? I'm pretty sure this particular tidbit did not occur because mommy didn't give her a cookie when she was 4. Is that a snail under your breast or are you just happy to see me?
I have read one of her books and might try some more after reading the biography
April 22, 2017
Ten pages into the book and I already prefer this far more than the Joan Schenkar bio. I could do without Wilson's exhaustive itineraries of Highsmith's European travels, which are over documented to the point of tedium and for the most part do not shed any light on her writing, except in a few scattered instances. Nevertheless, Andrew Wilson delves quite deftly into Pat's eventual descent into madness.
August 20, 2013
Andrew Wilson's Beautiful Shadow: A Life of Patricia Highsmith is a thorough look into the life and literary output of Patricia Highsmith. He documents (in sometimes too great detail) every quirk and eccentricity of the author's life, from her dozens of fragmented relationships, her stalking of women she barely knew, and her brusque unpleasantness towards almost everyone she ever came in contact yet.
Still, I found the book quite interesting, and fleshed out the personal demons which drove her to write such classics as "Strangers on a Train" and "The Talented Mr. Ripley".
My one complaint of the book is the author's TOO detailed descriptions of every one of her novels and short pieces, many times revealing twist endings, murders, story resolutions. I wish he had been able to reference her writings without giving away important plot points, as I planned on reading more of her work.
Highly recommended.
Still, I found the book quite interesting, and fleshed out the personal demons which drove her to write such classics as "Strangers on a Train" and "The Talented Mr. Ripley".
My one complaint of the book is the author's TOO detailed descriptions of every one of her novels and short pieces, many times revealing twist endings, murders, story resolutions. I wish he had been able to reference her writings without giving away important plot points, as I planned on reading more of her work.
Highly recommended.
July 6, 2008
I became interested in Patricia Highsmith after reading The Price of Salt. That book stayed with me. I couldn't stop thinking about it. I wanted to know more about it's author so I picked this up. It took me almost three weeks to read this. I don't generally like biographies or autobiographies but I am glad I endured and read this. It went through her work and life chapter by chapter and though I am unfamiliar with her other work, the exception being The Talented Mr. Ripley, it was never boring to read. I could have done without the epilogue but that's the only thing in the book that I didn't care for.
February 24, 2010
This is probably my most difficult book review.
I'm an avid reader and reread Highsmith's Ripley books multiple times over the past 25+ years. I also read "The Blunderer" after having watched the movie with Maurice Ronet & Marina Vlady. And I read "Strangers on a Train", but have to admit that I like Hitchcock's adaptation better than the novel.
I read several Highsmith novels that I did not like, but way back in the 80's and 90's I just read a lot of Highsmith.
So finally discovering that there was a biography on her life was very interesting for me, but I had no clue as to what to expect. As long as she was alive (before 1995) the fact that she was gay was kept secret and although it was more or less obvious in a few of her books, I did not really pay attention to it.
Her life was not easy from childhood on. She had many affairs, some with men, most with women, and she never seemed to be able to find the one life partner with whom she could have stayed together and live a fulfilled, happy and content life. So while I kept reading her biography, I felt more and more sorry for her, but at the same time I was in awe about the brilliant books she was capable of writing under these circumstances.
She was apparently only happy when she was writing and always went into a depression whenever she finished a book.
This book is on the one hand an easy read from Wilson's very good writing style, but due to the content it's not easy to digest.
It certainly is a book that will stay on your mind for quite a while after you finish reading it. And it was one of the most important books that I read this year. I have mixed feelings about it however because Highsmith was always one of my favorite novelists, but I am very sad for her that she did not have a happier life and had to go through so much agony.
I'm an avid reader and reread Highsmith's Ripley books multiple times over the past 25+ years. I also read "The Blunderer" after having watched the movie with Maurice Ronet & Marina Vlady. And I read "Strangers on a Train", but have to admit that I like Hitchcock's adaptation better than the novel.
I read several Highsmith novels that I did not like, but way back in the 80's and 90's I just read a lot of Highsmith.
So finally discovering that there was a biography on her life was very interesting for me, but I had no clue as to what to expect. As long as she was alive (before 1995) the fact that she was gay was kept secret and although it was more or less obvious in a few of her books, I did not really pay attention to it.
Her life was not easy from childhood on. She had many affairs, some with men, most with women, and she never seemed to be able to find the one life partner with whom she could have stayed together and live a fulfilled, happy and content life. So while I kept reading her biography, I felt more and more sorry for her, but at the same time I was in awe about the brilliant books she was capable of writing under these circumstances.
She was apparently only happy when she was writing and always went into a depression whenever she finished a book.
This book is on the one hand an easy read from Wilson's very good writing style, but due to the content it's not easy to digest.
It certainly is a book that will stay on your mind for quite a while after you finish reading it. And it was one of the most important books that I read this year. I have mixed feelings about it however because Highsmith was always one of my favorite novelists, but I am very sad for her that she did not have a happier life and had to go through so much agony.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 12, 2008
This book was on my reading list for at about two years. It won an award, and is extensive, with a bounty of interesting insights about the psychology that motivated Highsmith's writing.
It was also exhausting, clunky and suffered from being obsessive and at times boring. I tried to be a dutiful reader because I have long admired the myth of Patricia Highsmith, but after a while, I lost interest in Highsmith's failings in relationships, and lost patience waiting to see how the million experiences documented influenced the work of Patricia Highsmith.
There is some compelling literary criticism on a lot of her work, and that is where the biography shines. It would be even better biography if the three sections were edited. Childhood/Texas; Adolescence/New York; Adult/Europe
I saw interesting criticism making a correlation between her maturity, geography and writing.
So ultimately, the biography relied too much on obscure, yet interesting tid bits about the odd author, instead of revealing the literary relevance of Highsmith to encourage a following of new and eager readers. I for one, will be sure to read, "The Snail-Watcher", a short story and besides her better known works"Strangers on a Train" and of course, the Ripley books, I am interested in "The Blunderer" and "The Cry of the Owl".
It was also exhausting, clunky and suffered from being obsessive and at times boring. I tried to be a dutiful reader because I have long admired the myth of Patricia Highsmith, but after a while, I lost interest in Highsmith's failings in relationships, and lost patience waiting to see how the million experiences documented influenced the work of Patricia Highsmith.
There is some compelling literary criticism on a lot of her work, and that is where the biography shines. It would be even better biography if the three sections were edited. Childhood/Texas; Adolescence/New York; Adult/Europe
I saw interesting criticism making a correlation between her maturity, geography and writing.
So ultimately, the biography relied too much on obscure, yet interesting tid bits about the odd author, instead of revealing the literary relevance of Highsmith to encourage a following of new and eager readers. I for one, will be sure to read, "The Snail-Watcher", a short story and besides her better known works"Strangers on a Train" and of course, the Ripley books, I am interested in "The Blunderer" and "The Cry of the Owl".
August 15, 2012
I like to read biographies of writers; the best reveal how the unique personality and soul of the writer filters her talent, hard work, and dedication onto the page. Wilson accomplishes this goal in this beautifully written book. Wilson had access to her years of detailed journals, so this is as complete as picture as one could hope for.
It's hard to read parts of Beautiful Shadow because Highsmith was obviously a troubled woman, misanthropic, alcoholic and prone to serial passionate relationships that fizzled out after a year or two. But you can't fault the author for the shortcomings of his subject!
It's hard to read parts of Beautiful Shadow because Highsmith was obviously a troubled woman, misanthropic, alcoholic and prone to serial passionate relationships that fizzled out after a year or two. But you can't fault the author for the shortcomings of his subject!
December 23, 2018
I have strong feelings and complex thoughts about Highsmith, both the woman and the writer. Wilson does too, and he expresses them in a compassionate book that probably whitewashes the absolute worst that the woman could sometimes be, while approaching the writer with an appealing mixture of analysis and reverence.
July 3, 2021
Every so often one comes across a biography whose subject is as gripping as her work. Patricia Highsmith is one such person. I was unfamiliar with Highsmith's work (ok, I had seen one Ripley film) until I saw a play, Switzerland by Australian playwright Joanna Murray-Smith inspired by Highsmith's life and work. It must have been at this time that I bought "Beautiful Shadow" which lay dormant on my bookshelf for 7 years. What a treat to discover it! Although it is over 500 pages, this book has been meticulously researched from Highsmith's "cahiers" (as she calls her diaries) and other primary sources. Included are photos which depict Highsmith's physical decline as a result of her heavy drinking and incessant smoking. This biography could have dwelt on Highsmith's lesbian relationships in a salacious way but addresses them in the context of the writer's difficulties with people in general - her prickliness, eccentricity and unpredictability. But she loved cats and, besides her gifted writing, that endeared her to me, although what she did with them when she travelled so much remains one of her mysteries.
This biography has inspired me to read some of Highsmith's own works, starting with Strangers on a Train. Although a little dated and a product of the 1950s, her first novel is an excellent introduction to later work. In the front of this book is a useful list of HIghsmith's works in chronological order although it might be difficult to source all of them today. If you want to be enthralled by ghastly characters doing beastly things and playing with others' minds, Highsmith is the woman for you. But start with this excellent biography and let Highsmith's life sweep you into her work.
This biography has inspired me to read some of Highsmith's own works, starting with Strangers on a Train. Although a little dated and a product of the 1950s, her first novel is an excellent introduction to later work. In the front of this book is a useful list of HIghsmith's works in chronological order although it might be difficult to source all of them today. If you want to be enthralled by ghastly characters doing beastly things and playing with others' minds, Highsmith is the woman for you. But start with this excellent biography and let Highsmith's life sweep you into her work.
June 19, 2007
Patricia Highsmith's biography was just published. Recently deceased, she wrote very popular murder fiction most famously The Talented Mr. Ripley and succeeding novels about the maybe homosexual murderer and con artist Tom Ripley. In my quest to read about the lives of women famous in their own right, she is definitely a strong example: a lesbian, she never married nor settled down with a lover, was not close to either parent, and as far as I can see owes her entire fame solely to her own determination and talent. Pretty good role model right?
Not really. Her biography consists of whinging paragraphs of letters to her parents, notably her mother tried to abort her by drinking turpentine and then when she was small would eerily remark upon PH's love of the smell of the stuff. It's a laundry list of women she fell for, slept with and tossed away. And its a little, weirdly, homophobic. PH believed that Tom Ripley really was her alter ego; and lived her life in a law abiding away but with those values at stake.
I dropped the book 1/2 way through - its endless tide of abandoned panties and bitter recrimination was boring and stifling. But was it worth reading? Of course! It's refreshing to read about any person who could be described as representing multiple "oppressed peoples" in a completely non-enlightening manner. And even more importantly its refreshing to read about a famous woman who deserves her fame, but not my admiration. It reminded me that my values are more important than my success, lest I die a bitter old maid with a nasty, nasty biography for a eulogy.
September 20, 2016
I haven't read many biographies, but have been driven in some cases by interest in the lives of authors I enjoy. Once again, I am confirmed in my opinion that I would be quite happy never meeting those who create works I love. (One monumental undertaking was the three-volume bio of Graham Greene, unsurprisingly a huge fan of Patricia Highsmith.)
Given the characters she creates, with their indifferent approach to morality, Ms. Highsmith's social diffidence and misanthropy is not surprising. People appeared to fascinate Ms. Highsmith theoretically while they confounded her in person.
I enjoyed learning what authors she was reading at the time she was composing her novels, what theories she integrated into her stories. A dividend: reading works of Ms. Highsmith I haven't yet read, and returning to some I last read some time ago.
Given the characters she creates, with their indifferent approach to morality, Ms. Highsmith's social diffidence and misanthropy is not surprising. People appeared to fascinate Ms. Highsmith theoretically while they confounded her in person.
I enjoyed learning what authors she was reading at the time she was composing her novels, what theories she integrated into her stories. A dividend: reading works of Ms. Highsmith I haven't yet read, and returning to some I last read some time ago.
September 23, 2012
Tragic life, very detailed bio of Patricia Highsmith based on her own diaries, notebooks and friends testimony. Wilson also covers the writing and shaping of her novels and short stories attaching them to her life's struggles. Amazing woman, tragic, ahead of her time...Highsmith was a force to be reckoned with to say the least.
Recommended.
Recommended.
November 13, 2025
FASCINATING PORTRAIT OF A TALENTED YET TROUBLED WRITER.
I seem to be on a roll when it comes to fantastic books at the moment! Andrew Wilson's biography of Patricia Highsmith — the first to be attempted following her death in 1995 — sets a foundation that is hard to beat. His source base is impressive and extensive. Wilson expertly utilises the thousands of pages left behind in Highsmith's notebooks and diaries, discovered in a linen cupboard at her final home in Switzerland.
The life and loves of Highsmith are charted both sensitively and truthfully. Beginning with her mother, an ever-present thread throughout Highsmith's life — mother predeceasing daughter by four years — Wilson gives both sides of their fractious relationship a fair chance to breathe and set out their case. Patricia Highsmith, not accepted by her mother as either a lesbian or a writer, is shown empathy for the difficulties she faced in maintaining a relationship with her often poisonous mother, yet also receives fair criticism (usually from her relatives) for her inability to let go of the past. Mary Highsmith, meanwhile, is three-dimensionally portrayed not only as the aforementioned mother-from-hell, but also as a woman who tried her best to give her daughter a better life than she herself had. It’s a complicated yet compassionate take on a relationship that even a professional might have struggled to get to grips with!
Wilson's dissection and presentation of Highsmith's complicated character and habits also stand out. At times, Highsmith was a talented woman, a repressed yet romantic homosexual, and a loyal, devoted friend. At other times — particularly later in life — she was a bigoted, bitter ingrate, tainted by a life of trauma and hardship. Nevertheless, you can’t help but admire her. At once she can be seen as repulsive yet also endearing. Wilson manages such contradictions with grace and balance — leaving the ultimate conclusion to the reader.
Finally, there’s the connection to her greatest love: her work. Wilson gives much-needed appreciation to the often underrated yet never unsatisfactory portfolio that Highsmith built over her career. He links it admirably to her growing disillusionment with an America she saw as shallow and uncultured — rejecting it first for England, then France, and finally Switzerland. She remained, though, an American writer and an American woman, favouring its food and adopting a kind of off-duty cowboy uniform (as Wilson roughly puts it himself). From "Strangers on a Train" to "Small g", each book is given intelligent, dedicated treatment that expands our understanding of both author and work.
Overall, a fascinating read — a little long perhaps, but unlike many biographies it never goes stale in the middle. The ending, recounting Highsmith’s death from anaemia and cancer in 1995, is touching, as are the accounts of her funeral and legacy. I couldn’t help but feel sad not only at the end of the life of a great writer, but at the end of a great book. Highly recommended!
I seem to be on a roll when it comes to fantastic books at the moment! Andrew Wilson's biography of Patricia Highsmith — the first to be attempted following her death in 1995 — sets a foundation that is hard to beat. His source base is impressive and extensive. Wilson expertly utilises the thousands of pages left behind in Highsmith's notebooks and diaries, discovered in a linen cupboard at her final home in Switzerland.
The life and loves of Highsmith are charted both sensitively and truthfully. Beginning with her mother, an ever-present thread throughout Highsmith's life — mother predeceasing daughter by four years — Wilson gives both sides of their fractious relationship a fair chance to breathe and set out their case. Patricia Highsmith, not accepted by her mother as either a lesbian or a writer, is shown empathy for the difficulties she faced in maintaining a relationship with her often poisonous mother, yet also receives fair criticism (usually from her relatives) for her inability to let go of the past. Mary Highsmith, meanwhile, is three-dimensionally portrayed not only as the aforementioned mother-from-hell, but also as a woman who tried her best to give her daughter a better life than she herself had. It’s a complicated yet compassionate take on a relationship that even a professional might have struggled to get to grips with!
Wilson's dissection and presentation of Highsmith's complicated character and habits also stand out. At times, Highsmith was a talented woman, a repressed yet romantic homosexual, and a loyal, devoted friend. At other times — particularly later in life — she was a bigoted, bitter ingrate, tainted by a life of trauma and hardship. Nevertheless, you can’t help but admire her. At once she can be seen as repulsive yet also endearing. Wilson manages such contradictions with grace and balance — leaving the ultimate conclusion to the reader.
Finally, there’s the connection to her greatest love: her work. Wilson gives much-needed appreciation to the often underrated yet never unsatisfactory portfolio that Highsmith built over her career. He links it admirably to her growing disillusionment with an America she saw as shallow and uncultured — rejecting it first for England, then France, and finally Switzerland. She remained, though, an American writer and an American woman, favouring its food and adopting a kind of off-duty cowboy uniform (as Wilson roughly puts it himself). From "Strangers on a Train" to "Small g", each book is given intelligent, dedicated treatment that expands our understanding of both author and work.
Overall, a fascinating read — a little long perhaps, but unlike many biographies it never goes stale in the middle. The ending, recounting Highsmith’s death from anaemia and cancer in 1995, is touching, as are the accounts of her funeral and legacy. I couldn’t help but feel sad not only at the end of the life of a great writer, but at the end of a great book. Highly recommended!
March 22, 2019
Fat and juicy, this biography of Patricia Highsmith by Andrew Wilson plunges into the writer's life and fascinations, revealing her unique take on life. About 2/3 of the way through, I began to feel sad for this woman whose genius created Thomas Ripley, Strangers on a Train and the uncomfortable reader experience of reading a story from the point of view of the protagonist anti-hero who was often a murderer. She was fascinated with the psychopathic, the dark side, and by all accounts, possessed a hearty black humor. She struggled to connect with people, however, and drank alcohol heavily for most of her life. Her love affairs left her feeling empty and in pain, and she chose to live in Europe because American society disgusted her. Unique, different, a misanthrope, and eccentric, she nevertheless wrote stories that would get under the skin and stay there.
This biography follows Highsmith's life chronologically, covering her tumultuous childhood and adolescence, her striving for freedom in school, at Barnard College, and then with her writing. She never really considered doing anything else with her life, but she did take retail jobs as well as writing jobs to pay the bills. She was honest with herself about her sexuality, but she kept it private . As time went on, she drew herself into herself more and more, finding it difficult to make deep connections with people but still wanting people in her life. As a writer, I found myself relating to her creative process, her need to write and tell stories. I was surprised to learn that she also wrote poetry, and she enjoyed drawing as well as painting. One of her friends later in life speculated that Highsmith may have had Asperger's. I was also surprised at how sensitive she was to sound -- she couldn't stand loud sound and being in a room full of people overwhelmed her senses to such a degree that she had to leave.
As I read this biography, I felt sadder and sadder for its subject, praise for Andrew Wilson who captured the pain and struggle in her life so well. She was never satisfied with herself as a person, and probably didn't like herself very much either. What kind of astounded me was that she couldn't see herself as a character in the story of her life, and that as the writer of the story, could choose to change and do things differently so that she'd be more satisfied and happier with herself. Although, perhaps later in life she thought that it was too late for her. I don't know. I just found the way she lived very sad. She was clearly in psychological distress.
Well written, thorough, sensitive but honest, this biography held my attention on every page. My only quibble is actually rather substantial -- whoever proofed the galleys of this edition did a truly lousy job. Typos, misspellings, dropped words, wrong pronouns, and clumsy syntax marred the reading experience. I wonder what Patricia Highsmith would have thought.
I highly recommend this biography to any and all Highsmith fans, and any readers curious about what the creator of Tom Ripley was like. He and Highsmith were probably not that far apart.
This biography follows Highsmith's life chronologically, covering her tumultuous childhood and adolescence, her striving for freedom in school, at Barnard College, and then with her writing. She never really considered doing anything else with her life, but she did take retail jobs as well as writing jobs to pay the bills. She was honest with herself about her sexuality, but she kept it private . As time went on, she drew herself into herself more and more, finding it difficult to make deep connections with people but still wanting people in her life. As a writer, I found myself relating to her creative process, her need to write and tell stories. I was surprised to learn that she also wrote poetry, and she enjoyed drawing as well as painting. One of her friends later in life speculated that Highsmith may have had Asperger's. I was also surprised at how sensitive she was to sound -- she couldn't stand loud sound and being in a room full of people overwhelmed her senses to such a degree that she had to leave.
As I read this biography, I felt sadder and sadder for its subject, praise for Andrew Wilson who captured the pain and struggle in her life so well. She was never satisfied with herself as a person, and probably didn't like herself very much either. What kind of astounded me was that she couldn't see herself as a character in the story of her life, and that as the writer of the story, could choose to change and do things differently so that she'd be more satisfied and happier with herself. Although, perhaps later in life she thought that it was too late for her. I don't know. I just found the way she lived very sad. She was clearly in psychological distress.
Well written, thorough, sensitive but honest, this biography held my attention on every page. My only quibble is actually rather substantial -- whoever proofed the galleys of this edition did a truly lousy job. Typos, misspellings, dropped words, wrong pronouns, and clumsy syntax marred the reading experience. I wonder what Patricia Highsmith would have thought.
I highly recommend this biography to any and all Highsmith fans, and any readers curious about what the creator of Tom Ripley was like. He and Highsmith were probably not that far apart.
May 20, 2014
Andrew Wilson's biography of Patricia Highsmith is an engaging read from start to finish. He pays his subject the compliment of using prose as clear as her own to tell her story. Highsmith was a devoted diarist, letter writer, and keeper of detailed notebooks of all her background writing work. Andrew Wilson draws on all of this material plus his own interviews with many of her acquaintances, friends and lovers to produce a very detailed narrative of her life. He presents the testimony, opinions, and feelings of many others present at events, both great and small, in her life. He gives plot synopses of her major novels and has a good gallop around the critical reception following each publication.
Some critics of this biography have taken Wilson to task for the sheer volume of his detail; but, I cannot think of anything in this book that I wouldn't want to know.
Patricia Highsmith is most famous for a small number of tragic suspense novels in which little shams and mistakes lead to catastrophes. Her narrative point of view is usually through one or two unreliable, amoral, self-justifying individuals, such as her most famous creation, Tom Ripley. The reader sympathises with and then begins to excuse the narrator and is finally surprised to find herself hoping that he (always he) gets away with murder. She is the author of "Carol" (originally published as "The Price of Salt"), a lesbian romance and a departure from her suspense novels. She also wrote many short stories, some with quite vicious plots, and comment articles and travel writing.
She had a unique talent and some of my curiosity as to her thought processes and writing methods was answered by Andrew Wilson's book. She was born in Texas, educated in New York, and lived most of her adult life outside of the United States, in England, France, and the Italian part of Switzerland. She had many good friends, including Graham Greene (whom she never met in the flesh) to whom she wrote volumes of letters. She had many lovers; but, could not maintain an intimate relationship for more than a few months. All her life, she protested her love of solitude and Andrew Wilson reveals with what labours she filled that solitude.
I bought "Beautiful Shadow" in the week that it was first published in 2003.I didn't start to read it until a few days ago and suddenly, notice of the work of Patricia Highsmith is building in the media again. Her books are being reprinted and a film of her novel "The Two Faces of January" is in release. And in a real Patricia Highsmith moment, who should I hear on the radio this past Sunday but Andrew Wilson discussing this biography and the novel "Carol"! It is great to hear of her work again.
Some critics of this biography have taken Wilson to task for the sheer volume of his detail; but, I cannot think of anything in this book that I wouldn't want to know.
Patricia Highsmith is most famous for a small number of tragic suspense novels in which little shams and mistakes lead to catastrophes. Her narrative point of view is usually through one or two unreliable, amoral, self-justifying individuals, such as her most famous creation, Tom Ripley. The reader sympathises with and then begins to excuse the narrator and is finally surprised to find herself hoping that he (always he) gets away with murder. She is the author of "Carol" (originally published as "The Price of Salt"), a lesbian romance and a departure from her suspense novels. She also wrote many short stories, some with quite vicious plots, and comment articles and travel writing.
She had a unique talent and some of my curiosity as to her thought processes and writing methods was answered by Andrew Wilson's book. She was born in Texas, educated in New York, and lived most of her adult life outside of the United States, in England, France, and the Italian part of Switzerland. She had many good friends, including Graham Greene (whom she never met in the flesh) to whom she wrote volumes of letters. She had many lovers; but, could not maintain an intimate relationship for more than a few months. All her life, she protested her love of solitude and Andrew Wilson reveals with what labours she filled that solitude.
I bought "Beautiful Shadow" in the week that it was first published in 2003.I didn't start to read it until a few days ago and suddenly, notice of the work of Patricia Highsmith is building in the media again. Her books are being reprinted and a film of her novel "The Two Faces of January" is in release. And in a real Patricia Highsmith moment, who should I hear on the radio this past Sunday but Andrew Wilson discussing this biography and the novel "Carol"! It is great to hear of her work again.
March 28, 2021
thank you, andrew wilson, for this excellent book.
i'm so glad i came back to this biography of highsmith - i have gained so much respect for her, it offered insights that confirmed many of my hunches about choices she made in her writing, and it offered enormous inspiration as a fellow artist to steer a constant path and never compromise.
there's really a lot to say here, but i want to be brief, as was highsmith's style in her lean, no-nonsense prose, which produced a kind of invisible style. by removing stylistic artifice, she places the reader in an uncomfortable position with her characters, many of whom are deeply conflicted, obsessed, or wracked with guilt.
i admire her courage as a lesbian living in homophobic america - in the 1950's in particular, when you could be arrested just for being gay. she never came out, and i respect that in her case - her generation was a different time with different conditions. instead, she chose to live in exile, outside the america which, in many ways, broke her heart; a country that even failed to publish many of her later works.
she wrote about people who repressed their urges, their passions, their feelings, their desires, and in doing so, their spirits were ruptured, their emotions distorted, and their behaviors are the stuff of criminals. she traces the connection between crime and the repression americans often accept without questioning. highsmith questions it in every book (that i've read so far) ... she took the whodunit genre and turned it on its head, establishing, instead a genre of whydunit. (i stole that word from the book - it's just too good).
and so, i cried at the end of the final chapter when her body gave out and she expired. i want to be able to write to her, and let her know that she was the most beautiful shadow in all her complicated and conflicting habits, and i am left inspired to do my best, to work harder, to cut the artifice and get to the marrow, to reveal the truth in my own art of what it is to be alive, and, in particular, to live in this deeply conflicted country of ours.
i'm so glad i came back to this biography of highsmith - i have gained so much respect for her, it offered insights that confirmed many of my hunches about choices she made in her writing, and it offered enormous inspiration as a fellow artist to steer a constant path and never compromise.
there's really a lot to say here, but i want to be brief, as was highsmith's style in her lean, no-nonsense prose, which produced a kind of invisible style. by removing stylistic artifice, she places the reader in an uncomfortable position with her characters, many of whom are deeply conflicted, obsessed, or wracked with guilt.
i admire her courage as a lesbian living in homophobic america - in the 1950's in particular, when you could be arrested just for being gay. she never came out, and i respect that in her case - her generation was a different time with different conditions. instead, she chose to live in exile, outside the america which, in many ways, broke her heart; a country that even failed to publish many of her later works.
she wrote about people who repressed their urges, their passions, their feelings, their desires, and in doing so, their spirits were ruptured, their emotions distorted, and their behaviors are the stuff of criminals. she traces the connection between crime and the repression americans often accept without questioning. highsmith questions it in every book (that i've read so far) ... she took the whodunit genre and turned it on its head, establishing, instead a genre of whydunit. (i stole that word from the book - it's just too good).
and so, i cried at the end of the final chapter when her body gave out and she expired. i want to be able to write to her, and let her know that she was the most beautiful shadow in all her complicated and conflicting habits, and i am left inspired to do my best, to work harder, to cut the artifice and get to the marrow, to reveal the truth in my own art of what it is to be alive, and, in particular, to live in this deeply conflicted country of ours.
July 12, 2016
First I was a fan and avid reader of Highsmith novels. When I wanted to understand more about the mind who created these chilling tales of the "Sociopath Next Door," I looked for a biography. This was published a year or so after I began looking. Great timing, Mr. Wilson!
Highsmith's life was tortuous and at times tortured. While she was still in her mother's womb, her mother drank turpentine in a vain effort at self-abortion. It failed, but the story persisted, and Patricia Highsmith grew up knowing it. There you have the first of many strands that colored Highsmith's life and her writing.
This biography builds a well-rounded tale of Highsmith's life. It feels well-balanced and is not exclusively about her politics or sexuality, easy pitfalls for a biographer. Highsmith's relationships with people were prickly, many not lasting long, and as she aged she became more reclusive. Wilson managed to find enough people and enough material to prepare this biography and give it depth. Wilson writes well.
Since reading Beautiful Shadow, my reading of Highsmith's fiction is richer. I like knowing that some of her nastiest characters are no nastier than what she encountered. We like to think that the rest of us are just nice people making do and malevolent people are a tiny minority. In Highsmith's life and in her fiction we are all capable of malevolence. Danger, betrayal and violence are right there beside us, shadows most of the time, acted out some of the time. This knife-edge tension is what brings us back to reading and re-reading Highsmith. If you appreciate that in her fiction, this is the biography for you.
Highsmith's life was tortuous and at times tortured. While she was still in her mother's womb, her mother drank turpentine in a vain effort at self-abortion. It failed, but the story persisted, and Patricia Highsmith grew up knowing it. There you have the first of many strands that colored Highsmith's life and her writing.
This biography builds a well-rounded tale of Highsmith's life. It feels well-balanced and is not exclusively about her politics or sexuality, easy pitfalls for a biographer. Highsmith's relationships with people were prickly, many not lasting long, and as she aged she became more reclusive. Wilson managed to find enough people and enough material to prepare this biography and give it depth. Wilson writes well.
Since reading Beautiful Shadow, my reading of Highsmith's fiction is richer. I like knowing that some of her nastiest characters are no nastier than what she encountered. We like to think that the rest of us are just nice people making do and malevolent people are a tiny minority. In Highsmith's life and in her fiction we are all capable of malevolence. Danger, betrayal and violence are right there beside us, shadows most of the time, acted out some of the time. This knife-edge tension is what brings us back to reading and re-reading Highsmith. If you appreciate that in her fiction, this is the biography for you.
May 20, 2025
4.5 stars. An informative, very readable, comprehensive biography using Patricia Highsmith’s extensive diaries, notebooks, letters and interviews. All Highsmith’s published books are briefly summarized, providing book critics initial reaction to her newly published works.
Patricia Highsmith was born in Texas, USA in 1921 and died in Switzerland in 1995. She was a hard worker who lived off her writing income. She drank too much whiskey over her lifetime and had many relationships. She was an independent, a loner who was uncomfortable in crowds. She had many relationships with women. She only wrote one book focussed on lesbian relationships. She was very reticent in talking about her love life.
The author, Andrew Wilson, through quoting a number of people who knew Highsmith, shows that Patricia Highsmith as an unusual character who behaved differently to people she mixed with. She was careful with how she spent her funds. She had a troubled relationship with her mother and during her teenage years witnessed much unhappiness and arguments between her mother and her mother’s partners which discouraged Patricia Highsmith from ever marrying. Her books were far more popular in Europe than in the USA during her life time.
Highsmith is a fascinating character. I have read four of her novels and rated each with at least 4 stars. This book has encouraged me to read more of her novels.
Highly recommended.
This book was first published in 2003.
Patricia Highsmith was born in Texas, USA in 1921 and died in Switzerland in 1995. She was a hard worker who lived off her writing income. She drank too much whiskey over her lifetime and had many relationships. She was an independent, a loner who was uncomfortable in crowds. She had many relationships with women. She only wrote one book focussed on lesbian relationships. She was very reticent in talking about her love life.
The author, Andrew Wilson, through quoting a number of people who knew Highsmith, shows that Patricia Highsmith as an unusual character who behaved differently to people she mixed with. She was careful with how she spent her funds. She had a troubled relationship with her mother and during her teenage years witnessed much unhappiness and arguments between her mother and her mother’s partners which discouraged Patricia Highsmith from ever marrying. Her books were far more popular in Europe than in the USA during her life time.
Highsmith is a fascinating character. I have read four of her novels and rated each with at least 4 stars. This book has encouraged me to read more of her novels.
Highly recommended.
This book was first published in 2003.
August 23, 2019
A very sad book about one of my favorite mystery writers. Wilson's relating of Highsmith life reads like a tragedy--so much intelligence and charisma seemingly unfocused and therefore less effective than a more disciplined writer may have accomplished. If any credence can be placed in this biography, Highsmith was a character consumed by her own passion, and delayed by her own dalliance.
Still, with such writings as the Ripliad to her credit, the woman produced more good writing than most authors ever will--especially when it comes to the psychological thriller. There are few that can tap into that vein successfully, and Wilson shows in this biography how a person could think to create such a character as Ripley, and set him on his adventures. Without the life and style of Ms. Highsmith, there would never have been a Mr. Ripley.
Still, with such writings as the Ripliad to her credit, the woman produced more good writing than most authors ever will--especially when it comes to the psychological thriller. There are few that can tap into that vein successfully, and Wilson shows in this biography how a person could think to create such a character as Ripley, and set him on his adventures. Without the life and style of Ms. Highsmith, there would never have been a Mr. Ripley.
September 13, 2014
I have read most everything that Patricia Highsmith has published over the last decade or so. I have also read the other biographies written about her. IMHO, Beautiful Shadow is the best of the lot. Highsmith was a highly gifted and yet extremely complex study in opposites. People loved her work, but a majority of those who knew her personally found her abusive and self-deluded. Ultimately, she left this country altogether to live anonymously in Switzerland. The final straw (for me!) was finding out how she left all her personal cahiers (journals) and other papers in Switzerland for the Swiss to enjoy (most!) now that she's gone. Talk about the ultimate passive aggressive "Here's to you my American fans!" But...I still love her and her work in spite of all.
January 25, 2010
I've enjoyed Highsmith's books and I knew that she was a difficult person. This book portrays her compassionately, but realistically. She wasn't always kind to those around her and she had many anxieties and dark thoughts. If you've read any of her books, you'd guess as much! The 50's were a difficult time to be a lesbian and having to hide her relationships didn't help. The biographer did extensive research, (even going as far as finding out who "Carol," the object of infatuation in The Price of Salt, was based upon) and it shows, although sometimes I found myself skimming over what seemed like excess detail.
July 20, 2012
I liked this biography. It is apparently not the best one out. For people familiar with Strangers on a Train by Hitchcock Hightsmith is the writer as she is of many other novels based on her books. As I read the book, I realized that Wilson did not get the difference between anti-semitic and anti-Israel. Highsmith except for her predictable prejudice against blacks and urban problems was a doctrinaire liberal of the Roosevelt era. Her insistence on existential approach for the artist, her devotion to her art, and her awareness of the failure of American vision make her an interesting artist for our times. I intend to read her over the next few months.
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