The Persistent Image is a novel

Novel

A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

 by the American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 writer Gladys Schmitt

Gladys Schmitt

Gladys Schmitt was an American writer, editor, and professor....

 (1909–1972) set in a fictional version of 1950s Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

.

A romance, John Reiber and Helen Cameron overcome the obstacles that stand between them: his resentment of her higher class, his inability to forgive her for her former marriage, and his hatred of the divorced husband. Reiber's shame lessens gradually over his own family's lower middle class pretensions, and he confronts reality.

Novelist Gladys Schmitt, a Pittsburgh native, taught literature and writing at Carnegie Mellon University

Carnegie Mellon University

Carnegie Mellon University is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States....

from 1942 to 1972.