Patricia Cornwell

Sarah Dauncey (University of Cumbria)
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Patricia Cornwell, born Patricia Daniels, spent the first seven years of her life in Miami, Florida. She moved to North Carolina in 1963 with her mother and two brothers after the break-up of her parents’ marriage. Her childhood here was fraught with problems as her mother suffered from depression and had to be hospitalized. However, these difficulties led to her attachment to Ruth Graham, the wife of the famous evangelist Billy Graham, who was the subject of her first published book,

A Time For Remembering: The Ruth Graham Story

(1982). Cornwell’s Presbyterian background has been seen to influence the moral world of her fiction where representatives of human decency strive to protect communities from crime and violence. Although Cornwell admits to having “departed in some ways from…

2428 words

Citation: Dauncey, Sarah. "Patricia Cornwell". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 18 November 2005 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=6032, accessed 19 March 2024.]

6032 Patricia Cornwell 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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