Patricia McDermott has a long-standing personal connection to the city featured in her first novel, Two Nights in Berlin. She has lived in the city and has family connections there. Her novel reflects some of these personal relationships and explores the historical significance of a Berlin where the Holocaust began, communism reigned and subsequently ended with the fall of the Berlin Wall, the symbolic collapse of the Soviet era.

As a professor of Social Sciences, Patricia has taught and done research in the area of Gender and the Law for over 35 years at York University in Toronto. When not writing or involved with her academic interests, Patricia enjoys yoga, book clubs, and spending time with her two granddaughters and her partner Terry Maley.