Thorne was born in
New York City on September 16, 1944, the daughter of Alice (Barry) and Landon Ketchum Thorne Jr. Her maternal great-grandfather was journalist
David S. Barry. Thorne spent much of her childhood in
Rome where her father worked various jobs. She married Richard J. Charlesworth in 1997 and they moved to
Bozeman, Montana. Thorne died from
cancer on April 27, 2006, in her home in
Concord, Massachusetts. == Books ==