Patricia Highsmith

Patricia Highsmith is a great writer who did wonderful job in her career by writing several books that motivated and educated most of her readers. Patricia Highsmith was born on 19th January 1921 in Fort Worth, Texas in the United States and passed away on 4th February 1995 while staying in Locarno, Switzerland when she was 74 years old. She was an awesome American novelist and also did short stories. She began her writing as from 1950s until the time she passed away. Her real name at birth was Mary Patricia Plangman. She was the only child of the late Jay Bernard Plangman who lived as from 1889-1975. The mother was known Mary Coates who lived as from 13th September 1895 to 12th March 1991 who divorced before their child was born. Her mother later went back to Patricia Highsmith’s grandmother where she born. In 1927, the mother together with the step father moved to New York City. The step father was known Stanley Highsmith who was an artist like the biological father. They stayed in Manhattan but later left her parents to go back to New York. She also lived in Astoria Queens. Her grandmother taught become her teacher at an early age as she taught her how to read. She took advantage of the extensive library that the grandmother owned to improve on her reading and writing skills. Patricia Highsmith resented her step father largely as he had pressured her mother to get rid of her before being born, something which her mother did not agree on. This love-hate relationship continued and she did not manage to resolve it by the time the step father died. This haunted her for the better part of her life and it inspired her to write a short story known as “The Terrapin”, a fiction book about a young boy who caused the death of his mother by stabbing her. Her life was somehow complicated and troubled because she was an alcoholic and never engaged in an intimate relationship for quite long. She loved cats and snails. This made her bred about over 300 snails in home garden. She was described as cruel, hard, mean and unlovable person. She never bore any child since she was never married. In her late years, she suffered from cancer and aplastic anemia which claimed her life by the age of 74 years.