Patricia Highsmith

Essay

Not Easily Pleased

Early in our friendship, I made the mistake of telling Patricia Highsmith that I loved Hitchcock’s adaptation of her first novel, Strangers on a Train. I wasn’t sure the friendship would survive the night.

Essay

Christmas on the Riviera

In the 10 years between her divorce and remarriage, my mother spent Christmas with her mother. Their habit was a matinee, then a simple meal.