Who is Patty Bancroft from Black and Blue: A Novel and what is their importance? Black-and-Blue-(novel) English & Literature Patty Bancroft | Black and Blue: A Novel

Patty Bancroft is a woman who runs a secret organization whose main goal is to help women escape from the men who abuse them. Patty Bancroft claims to have been abused brutally once as a young woman, but Beth Crenshaw finds this difficult to believe. In fact, Beth finds herself convinced that Patty Bancroft is an abuser in her own way, hiding behind the charity she provides for women in need. If not for Patty Bancroft, Beth Crenshaw might never have come into existence. However, Patty Bancroft wants to control Beth Crenshaw, to force her to move on when she is happy and to keep her from contacting people in her former life. For these reasons, Beth Crenshaw cuts Patty Bancroft out of her life and tries to survive on her own, losing her son in the process.