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Clarice Starling is a fictional character in the novels The Silence Of The Lambs and Hannibal by Thomas Harris.
In "The Silence Of The Lambs", Starling is in her mid-twenties and a student at the FBI training school. She hopes to work at the Behavioural Science lab, tracking down serial killers. As a chore, she is asked to interview Hannibal Lecter, a serial-murderer and psychiatrist who is held in a mental asylum. After a shaky start, Lecter seems to form some sort of bond with Starling and eventually offers help in catching a serial-killer who is currently on the loose, Buffalo Bill.
We also learn some of Starling's history. She was raised in a small town in Virginia and when she was about 9 her father - a sheriff - was shot dead by robbers. Starling went to live with on a farm with a foster family, from which she briefly ran away in horror when she witnessed lambs being slaughtered (which lead to the title of the book.)
During the novel, Starling is the subject of the crude and lewd attentions of Lecter's captor, the asylum manager Frederick Chilton. She rebuffs him, much to his annoyance, which probably helps her bond with Lecter, who also despises Chilton.
In "Hannibal", Starling is aged 32 and a fully fledged FBI agent. Lecter is free following his escape, whereabouts unknown. A bungled drug raid leaves Starling suspended from duty, at which point she receives a letter from Lecter, who is in Florence, Italy, soaking up the cultural delights of the old city. One of Lecter's surviving victims, Mason Verger, is after Lecter and has offered a huge reward, which an Italian detective tries to claim by hunting Lecter. Things go drastically wrong for all parties, which result in Lecter fleeing back to the US. He stalks Starling, although without homicidal intentions, whilst Starling is being harassed and chased out of the FBI by various antagonistic agents (including Krendler, who hates Starling after she turned down his attempt at seduction.) Starling tries to hunt down Lecter herself, partly to capture to him but mainly to save him from Verger's sadistic grasp.
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