Her first book, a historical romance, was published by Dorchester in 1989.

After college, Gaffney taught 12th grade English for a year before becoming a freelance court reporter, a job shepursued in North Carolina, Pittsburgh, and Washington, D.C., for the next fifteen years. She earned a bachelor's degree in English and philosophy from Marymount College in Tarrytown, New York, and also studied literature at Royal Holloway College of the University of London, at George Washington University, and at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Literary Guild/Doubleday Book Club selection.Patricia Gaffney was born on Decemin Tampa, Florida, and grew up in Bethesda, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C.

Though handicapped by transparent characterizations and poor pacing, the novel offers a reliable if predictable emotional roller-coaster ride. Nevertheless, she turns out some resonant scenes, including one in which steely grandma Dana finally admits to an addiction. Gaffney (The Saving Graces) relies too heavily on stale pop cultural references and language in telling Ruth's story, and male characters take a lot of abuse in this female-centric drama. Meanwhile, Ruth is experimenting with a perpetually stoned boyfriend and a job at a health-food store, and trying to get over the shock of her father's death. Nevertheless, early on in this sprawling book it becomes clear that, after much flaky deliberation, Carrie will get a second chance with the man she's always loved. Dana also harrumphs Carrie's interest in helping Jess reproduce a miniature Noah's Ark to honor the request of dying Arkist religious cult member Eldon Pletcher.

Problem is, Dana never approved of this once wild boy whose rough and rural upbringing reminds her too much of the verbally abusive country home she tried so hard to escape by marrying spineless academic George. When Carrie's unfeeling husband Stephen suddenly dies of a heart attack, she desperately wants to bounce back into the arms of divorced farmer Jess Deeping, her conveniently available high school sweetheart. Three generations of small-town Virginia women-troubled teen Ruth Van Allen, her equally insecure mother, Carrie Van Allen, and bossy grandmother Dana Danziger-struggle to overcome personal problems and self-absorption to grow closer as a family in Gaffney's sweepingly sentimental novel.

Wild at Heart by Patricia Gaffney