Patricia Highsmith · 1952 · road

Patricia Highsmith's 1952 novel, published under a pseudonym and later reissued as Carol, a rare love story between two women that, almost uniquely for its time, refused to punish them with tragedy. Its heart is a cross-country drive west from New York and back, freedom and pursuit braided together. Later a celebrated film. The route follows their journey across the United States.

1. 1
   New York

   Therese, a lonely young shopgirl, falls in love with Carol, an elegant older woman in the middle of a divorce, and the two set off west together.

2. 2
   Chicago

   Across the winter country by car, the romance deepening as the miles unspool, a private detective quietly on their trail.

3. 3
   Waterloo

   Motels and diners through the Midwest, stolen happiness shadowed by the sense of being followed.

4. 4
   Sioux Falls

   On the high plains the pursuit closes in, and the evidence gathered against them threatens Carol with the loss of her child.

5. 5
   New York (return)

   Carol turns back east to face the cost of loving as she does, and Therese, transformed, finds her way back to her.