This Sweet Sickness

This Sweet Sickness (1960) is a psychological thriller novel by Patricia Highsmith, about a man who is obsessed with a woman who has rejected his advances. It is a "painful novel about obsessive imaginary love". Composition Highsmith dedicated the novel to her mother Mary: "To my mother". Synopsis Scientist David Kelsey is infatuated with Annabelle, with whom he had a short relationship before moving away to take a job. David hopes the job will allow him to earn enough money to marry Annabelle. However, the two never actually discussed marriage and, while David is away, Annabelle marries another man named Gerald. Unable to accept the turn of events and move on, David begins laboring under the increasingly self-deluding hope that Annabelle will leave her new husband. Under the assumed identity of William Neumeister, a freelance journalist who frequently travels, David buys a cabin in the country to serve as his eventual home with Annabelle. He furnishes the house to her liking and spends weekends there, performing household routines as if he is doing everything for two. David sends letters, visits Annabelle's home and asks her to divorce Gerald even after she has had a son by him.