Lorraine Grace Viscardi Murray is an American author and columnist.

Life

Murray was born in

Yonkers, New York Yonkers () is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. Developed along the Hudson River, it is the third most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City and Buffalo. The population of Yonkers was 211,569 as enu ...

and grew up in Miami. She received her bachelor's degree in English from the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. She received her doctorate in philosophy from the

. A radical feminist and atheist for over 20 years, she returned to Catholicism in her forties, a conversion journey she wrote about in her book, ''Confessions of an Ex-Feminist''. Her other books include ''How Shall We Celebrate?'', ''Why Me? Why Now?: Finding Hope When You Have Breast Cancer'', and ''Grace Notes: Embracing the Joy of Christ in a Broken World''. She has also written a biography of Southern writer Flannery O'Connor, "The Abbess of Andalusia: Flannery O'Connor's Spiritual Journey." She also wrote three cozy mystery novels featuring amateur detective Francesca Bibbo. These are Death in the Choir, Death of a Liturgist, and Death Dons a Mask. Her essays on Christian themes appear in the ''

Atlanta Journal-Constitution ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the only major daily newspaper in the metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger between ...

'', '' The Georgia Bulletin'', and the ''

National Catholic Register The ''National Catholic Register'' is a Catholic newspaper in the United States. It was founded on November 8, 1927, by Matthew J. Smith as the national edition of the '' Denver Catholic Register''. The ''Registers current owner is the Ete ...

''. She is the widow of

Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlins ...

artist

Jef Murray Jeffrey Patrick Murray (March 17, 1960 – August 3, 2015) was an American fantasy artist and author best known for his illustrations of works by J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. His paintings, illustrations, stories, poems, and essays appear regular ...

, who died in 2015. She won the first place

Catholic Press Association The Catholic Media Association, formerly the Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada, is an association of American and Canadian newspaper and media specialists specialized on reporting on the Catholic Church. Founded in 1911, it ...

award for "Best regular column - family life" in 2014. She won the second place

award for "Best regular column – general commentary" in 2006.

Bibliography

*''Grace Notes: Embracing the Joy of Christ in a Broken World'' (2002). Resurrection Press. pp. 173. *''Why Me? Why Now?: Finding Hope When You Have Breast Cancer'' (2003). Ave Maria Press. pp. 128.
"A Wedding Day Resurrection"
''Georgia Bulletin'', November 16, 2006. *''Confessions of an Ex-Feminist'' (2008). Ignatius Press. pp. 150. *''Death in the Choir'' (2009). Tumblar House. pp. 186. *''The Abbess of Andalusia: Flannery O'Connor's Spiritual Journey'' (2009). Saint Benedict Press. pp. 256. *''Death of a Liturgist'' (2010). Saint Benedict Press. pp. 224. *''Death Dons a Mask'' (2013). Tumblar House. pp. 312.

References

External links

Lorraine V. Murray website

The Georgia Bulletin:
The Newspaper of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta. 1947 births Living people American mystery writers American Roman Catholic religious writers Converts to Roman Catholicism from atheism or agnosticism American feminists University of Florida alumni American women novelists American women mystery writers 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American women writers American women non-fiction writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American women {{US-novelist-1940s-stub