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Mary Theresa Eleanor Higgins Clark Conheeney (née Higgins; born December 24, 1927〔''Great Women Mystery Writers'', 2nd Ed. by Elizabeth Blakesley Lindsay, page 40, 2007, Greenwood Press; ISBN 0-313-33428-5〕), known professionally as Mary Higgins Clark, is an American author of suspense novels. Each of her 51 books has been a bestseller in the United States and various European countries, and all of her novels remained in print as of 2015, with her debut suspense novel, ''Where Are The Children'', in its seventy-fifth printing. Higgins Clark began writing at an early age. After several years working as a secretary and copy editor, she spent a year as a stewardess for Pan-American Airlines before leaving her job to marry and start a family. She supplemented the family's income by writing short stories. After her husband died in 1964, Higgins Clark worked for many years writing four-minute radio scripts until her agent convinced her to try writing novels. Her debut novel, a fictionalized account of the life of George Washington, did not sell well, and she decided to leverage her love of mystery/suspense novels. Her suspense novels became very popular, and as of 2007 her books had sold more than 80 million copies in the United States alone. Her daughter, Carol Higgins Clark, and former daughter-in-law Mary Jane Clark, are also writers. ==Early life== Mary Theresa Eleanor Higgins was born on Christmas Eve 1927, although some sources mistakenly cite 1929 as the year, the second child and only daughter of Irish immigrant Luke Higgins and his American born wife Nora, also of Irish descent.〔Mary Higgins Clark, ''Kitchen Privileges'', pp. 16–17.〕 The United States census gives her age in April 1940 as 12, which indicates her year of birth is 1927, as that was her age at her ''last birthday'', the question asked by census enumerators.〔1940 United States census extract: Name: Mary Higgins Age: 12 Estimated birth year: abt 1928 Gender: Female Race: White Birthplace: New York Marital Status: Single Relation to Head of House: Daughter Home in 1940: New York, Bronx, New York Map of Home in 1940: View Map Street: Tenbroeck Avenue House Number: 1913 Inferred Residence in 1935: New York, Bronx, New York Residence in 1935: Same House Sheet Number: 9B Attended School or College: Yes Highest Grade Completed: Elementary school, 6th grade Neighbors: View others on page Household Members: Nora Higgins 52 Joseph Higgins 13 Mary Higgins 12 John Higgins 8 Herbert Katz 21 Source Citation: Year: 1940; Census Place: New York, Bronx, New York; Roll: T627_2481; Page: 9B; Enumeration District: 3-819. Source Information: Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census (on-line ). Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012. Original data: United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1940. T627, 4,643 rolls.〕 She was born about a year and a half after the birth of her older brother, Joseph. Her younger brother John, followed three years later.〔Higgins Clark, ''Kitchen Privileges'', p. 1.〕 Even as a small child, she was interested in writing, composing her first poem at age seven and often crafting short plays for her friends to enact. She began keeping a journal when she was seven years old, noting in her very first entry that "Nothing much happened today."〔Higgins Clark, ''Kitchen Privileges'', p. 13.〕 The family lived off the earnings from their Irish pub and were fairly well-off, owning a home in the Bronx and a summer cottage on Long Island Sound.〔Higgins Clark, ''Kitchen Privileges'', p. 2.〕〔Higgins Clark, ''Kitchen Privileges'', p. 18.〕 Although the Great Depression began when Higgins Clark was still a baby, her family was initially not affected, and even insisted on feeding the men who knocked on their door looking for work.〔Higgins Clark, ''Kitchen Privileges'', p. 3.〕 By the time Higgins Clark was ten, however, the family began to experience financial trouble, as many of their customers were unable to pay the bar tabs they had run up.〔 Higgins Clark's father was forced to lay off several employees and work longer hours, spending no more than a few hours at home each day. The family was thrown into further turmoil in 1939, when young Mary returned home from an early Mass to discover that her father had died in his sleep.〔 Nora Higgins, now a widow with three young children to support, soon discovered that few employers were willing to hire a 52-year-old woman who had not held a job in over fourteen years.〔Higgins Clark, ''Kitchen Privileges'', p. 20.〕 To pay the bills, Higgins Clark was forced to move out of her bedroom so that her mother could rent it out to paying boarders.〔Higgins Clark, ''Kitchen Privileges'', p. 24.〕 Six months after their father's death, Higgins Clark's older brother cut his foot on a piece of metal and contracted severe osteomyelitis. Higgins Clark and her mother prayed constantly for him, and their neighbors came en masse to give blood for the many transfusions the young boy needed. Despite the dire predictions of the doctors, Joseph Higgins survived. Higgins Clark credits his recovery to the power of their prayers.〔Higgins Clark, ''Kitchen Privileges'', p. 32.〕 When Higgins Clark graduated from Saint Francis Xavier Grammar School she received a scholarship to continue her education at the Villa Maria Academy, a school run by the nuns of the Congregation de Notre Dame de Montreal.〔Higgins Clark, ''Kitchen Privileges'', pp. 2, 37.〕 There, the principal and other teachers encouraged Higgins Clark to develop her writing, although they were somewhat less than pleased when she began spending her class time writing stories instead of paying attention to the lesson.〔 At sixteen Higgins Clark made her first attempt at publishing her work, sending an entry to ''True Confessions'' which was rejected.〔 To help pay the bills, she worked as a switchboard operator at the Shelton Hotel, where she often listened in to the residents' conversations. In her memoir she recalls spending much time eavesdropping on Tennessee Williams, but complained that he never said anything interesting. On her days off, Higgins Clark would window shop, mentally choosing the clothes she would wear when she finally became a famous writer.〔Higgins Clark, ''Kitchen Privileges'', pp. 40–42.〕 Despite Higgins Clark's contribution to the family finances, the money her mother earned babysitting was not enough, and the family lost their house and moved into a small three-room apartment. When Joseph graduated from high school in 1944, he immediately enlisted in the Navy, both to serve his country during war and to help his mother pay her bills. Six months after his enlistment he contracted spinal meningitis and died.〔Higgins Clark, ''Kitchen Privileges'', pp. 43–45.〕 Although the family mourned Joseph's death deeply, as his dependent, Nora was guaranteed a life pension and no longer needed her daughter's help to pay the bills.〔Higgins Clark, ''Kitchen Privileges'', p. 84.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mary Higgins Clark」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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