A big, sprawling saga of a novel (San Francisco Chronicle), this epic family drama is a masterwork by the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Great Santini.

Set in New York City and the low country of South Carolina, The Prince of Tides opens when Tom, a high school football coach whose marriage and career are crumbling, flies from South Carolina to New York after learning of his twin sister's suicide attempt. Savannah is one of the most gifted poets of her generation, and both the cadenced beauty of her art and the jumbled cries of her illness are clues to the too-long-hidden story of her wounded family. In the paneled offices and luxurious restaurants of New York City, Tom and Susan Lowenstein, Savannah's psychiatrist, unravel a history of violence, abandonment, commitment, and love. And Tom realizes that trying to save his sister is perhaps his last chance to save himself.

With passion and a rare gift of language, Pat Conroy moves from present to past, tracing the amazing history of the Wingos from World War II through the final days of the war in Vietnam and into the 1980s, drawing a rich range of characters: the lovable, crazy Mr. Fruit, who for decades has wordlessly directed traffic at the same intersection in the southern town of Colleton; Reese Newbury, the ruthless, patrician land speculator who threatens the Wingos' only secure worldly possession, Melrose Island; Herbert Woodruff, Susan Lowenstein's husband, a world-famous violinist; Tolitha Wingo, Savannah's mentor and eccentric grandmother, the first real feminist in the Wingo family.

Pat Conroy reveals the lives of his characters with surpassing depth and power, capturing the vanishing beauty of the South Carolina low country and a lost way of life.

An American expatriate in Rome unearths his family legacy in this sweeping novel by the acclaimed author of The Prince of Tides and The Great Santini

A Southerner living abroad, Jack McCall is scarred by tragedy and betrayal. His desperate desire to find peace after his wife's suicide draws him into a painful, intimate search for the one haunting secret in his family's past that can heal his anguished heart. Spanning three generations and two continents, from the contemporary ruins of the American South to the ancient ruins of Rome, from the unutterable horrors of the Holocaust to the lingering trauma of Vietnam, Beach Music sings with life's pain and glory. It is a novel of lyric intensity and searing truth, another masterpiece among Pat Conroy's legendary and beloved novels.

Praise for Beach Music

Astonishing . . . stunning . . . The range of passions and subjects that bring life to every page is almost endless.--The Washington Post Book World

Magnificent . . . clearly Conroy's best.--San Francisco Chronicle

Blockbuster writing at its best.--Los Angeles Times Book Review

Pat Conroy's writing contains a virtue now rare in most contemporary fiction: passion.--The Denver Post

A powerful, heartfelt tale.--Houston Chronicle

A miraculous (Newsweek) human drama, based on a true story, from the renowned author of The Prince of Tides and The Great Santini

The island is nearly deserted, haunting, beautiful. Across a slip of ocean lies South Carolina. But for the handful of families on Yamacraw Island, America is a world away. For years the people here lived proudly from the sea, but now its waters are not safe. Waste from industry threatens their very existence unless, somehow, they can learn a new way. But they will learn nothing without someone to teach them, and their school has no teacher--until one man gives a year of his life to the island and its people.

Praise for The Water Is Wide

Miraculous . . . an experience of joy.--Newsweek

A powerfully moving book . . . You will laugh, you will weep, you will be proud and you will rail . . . and you will learn to love the man.--Charleston News and Courier

A hell of a good story.--The New York Times

Few novelists write as well, and none as beautifully.--Lexington Herald-Leader

Pat] Conroy cuts through his experiences with a sharp edge of irony. . . . He brings emotion, writing talent and anger to his story.--Baltimore Sun

A Wall Street Journal Book Club pick - The acclaimed bestseller about upheaval at a Southern military academy, hailed by Larry King as an American classic, by the legendary author of The Prince of Tides and The Great Santini

In this powerful, mesmerizing, and acclaimed bestseller, Pat Conroy sweeps us into the turbulent world of four young men--friends, cadets, and blood brothers--and their days of hazing, heartbreak, pride, betrayal, and, ultimately, humanity. We go deep into the heart of the novel's hero, Will McLean, a rebellious outsider with his own personal code of honor who is battling into manhood the hard way. Immersed in a poignant love affair with a haunting beauty, Will must boldly confront the terrifying injustice of a corrupt institution as he struggles to expose a mysterious group known as The Ten.

Praise for The Lords of Discipline

If you are reading another book when you begin The Lords of Discipline, prepare to set it aside.--The Denver Post

A work of enormous power, passion, humor, and wisdom that] sweeps the reader along on a great tide of honest, throbbing emotion.--The Washington Star

Few novelists write as well, and none as beautifully.--Lexington Herald-Leader

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - A big sweeping novel of friendship and marriage (The Washington Post) by the celebrated author of The Prince of Tides and The Great Santini

Leopold Bloom King has been raised in a family shattered--and shadowed--by tragedy. Lonely and adrift, he searches for something to sustain him and finds it among a tightly knit group of outsiders. Surviving marriages happy and troubled, unrequited loves and unspoken longings, hard-won successes and devastating breakdowns, as well as Charleston, South Carolina's dark legacy of racism and class divisions, these friends will endure until a final test forces them to face something none of them are prepared for.

Spanning two turbulent decades, South of Broad is Pat Conroy at his finest: a masterpiece from a great American writer whose passion for life and language knows no bounds.

Praise for South of Broad

Vintage Pat Conroy . . . a big sweeping novel of friendship and marriage.--The Washington Post

Conroy remains a magician of the page.--The New York Times Book Review

Richly imagined . . . These characters are gallant in the grand old-fashioned sense, devoted to one another and to home. That siren song of place has never sounded so sweet.--New Orleans Times-Picayune

A lavish, no-holds-barred performance.--The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A lovely, often thrilling story.--The Dallas Morning News

A pleasure to read . . . a must for Conroy's fans.--Associated Press

The piercing, iconic semi-autobiographical novel of a domineering father and ambitious son, from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Prince of Tides

Step into the powerhouse life of Bull Meecham. He's all Marine--fighter pilot, king of the clouds, and absolute ruler of his family. Lillian is his wife--beautiful, southern-bred, with a core of velvet steel. Without her cool head, her kids would be in real trouble. Ben is the oldest, a born athlete whose best never satisfies the big man. Ben's got to stand up, even fight back, against a father who doesn't give in--not to his men, not to his wife, and certainly not to his son. Bull Meecham is undoubtedly Pat Conroy's most explosive character--a man you should hate, but a man you will love.

Praise for The Great Santini

Stinging authenticity . . . a book that won't quit.--The Atlanta Journal

Pat] Conroy has captured a different slice of America in this funny, dramatic novel.--Richmond News-Leader

Conroy takes aim at our darkest emotions, lets the arrow fly and hits the bull's-eye almost every time.--Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Robust and vivid . . . full of feeling.--Newsday

God preserve Pat Conroy.--The Boston Globe

America's favorite storyteller, Pat Conroy, is back with a unique cookbook that only he could conceive. Delighting us with tales of his passion for cooking and good food and the people, places, and great meals he has experienced, Conroy mixes them together with mouthwatering recipes from the Deep South and the world beyond.

It all started thirty years ago with a chance purchase of The Escoffier Cookbook, an unlikely and daunting introduction for the beginner. But Conroy was more than up to the task. He set out with unwavering determination to learn the basics of French cooking--stocks and dough--and moved swiftly on to veal demi-glace and p te bris e. With the help of his culinary accomplice, Suzanne Williamson Pollak, Conroy mastered the dishes of his beloved South as well as the cuisine he has savored in places as far away from home as Paris, Rome, and San Francisco.

Each chapter opens with a story told with the inimitable brio of the author. We see Conroy in New Orleans celebrating his triumphant novel The Prince of Tides at a new restaurant where there is a contretemps with its hardworking young owner/chef--years later he discovered the earnest young chef was none other than Emeril Lagasse; we accompany Pat and his wife on their honeymoon in Italy and wander with him, wonderstruck, through the markets of Umbria and Rome; we learn how a dinner with his fighter-pilot father was preceded by the Great Santini himself acting out a perilous night flight that would become the last chapters of one of his son's most beloved novels. These tales and more are followed by corresponding recipes--from Breakfast Shrimp and Grits and Sweet Potato Rolls to Pappardelle with Prosciutto and Chestnuts and Beefsteak Florentine to Peppered Peaches and Creme Brulee. A master storyteller and passionate cook, Conroy believes that A recipe is a story that ends with a good meal.

This book is the story of my life as it relates to the subject of food. It is my autobiography in food and meals and restaurants and countries far and near. Let me take you to a restaurant on the Left Bank of Paris that I found when writing The Lords of Discipline. There are meals I ate in Rome while writing The Prince of Tides that ache in my memory when I resurrect them. There is a shrimp dish I ate in an elegant English restaurant, where Cuban cigars were passed out to all the gentlemen in the room after dinner, that I can taste on my palate as I write this. There is barbecue and its variations in the South, and the subject is a holy one to me. I write of truffles in the Dordogne Valley in France, cilantro in Bangkok, catfish in Alabama, scuppernong in South Carolina, Chinese food from my years in San Francisco, and white asparagus from the first meal my agent took me to in New York City. Let me tell you about the fabulous things I have eaten in my life, the story of the food I have encountered along the way. . .

Final words and heartfelt remembrances from bestselling author Pat Conroy take center stage in this winning nonfiction collection, supplemented by touching pieces from Conroy's many friends.

This new volume of Pat Conroy's nonfiction brings together some of the most charming interviews, magazine articles, speeches, and letters from his long literary career, many of them addressed directly to his readers with his habitual greeting, Hey, out there. Ranging across diverse subjects, such as favorite recent reads, the challenge of staying motivated to exercise, and processing the loss of dear friends, Conroy's eminently memorable pieces offer a unique window into the life of a true titan of Southern writing.

With a beautiful introduction from his widow, novelist Cassandra King, A Lowcountry Heart also honors Conroy's legacy and the innumerable lives he touched. Finally, the collection turns to remembrances of The Great Conroy, as he is lovingly titled by friends, and concludes with a eulogy. The inarguable power of Conroy's work resonates throughout A Lowcountry Heart, and his influence promises to endure.

This moving tribute is sure to be a cherished keepsake for any true Conroy fan and remain a lasting monument to one of the best-loved masters of contemporary American letters.

Praise for A Lowcountry Heart

A fascinating look into the mind of one of the South's greatest authors . . . something to remember him by and cherish for years to come.--The Clarion-Ledger

Fans of Conroy . . . will relish the chance to spend more time with him in this glowing valedictory to his life and writing . . . Eloquent, folksy, and sometimes brutally honest.--Publishers Weekly

A moving and proper tribute to a true Southern icon.--The Florida Times-Union

Elegant essays that] will not disappoint.--The Washington Post

Resplendent . . . As always, his storytelling, word choice and rhythm are gorgeous, almost lyrical.--USA Today

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - A brilliant storyteller, a master of sarcasm, and a hallucinatory stylist whose obsession with the impress of the past on the present binds him to Southern literary tradition.--The Boston Globe

Pat Conroy's great success as a writer has always been intimately linked with the exploration of his family history. As the oldest of seven children who were dragged from military base to military base across the South, Pat bore witness to the often cruel and violent behavior of his father, Marine Corps fighter pilot Donald Patrick Conroy. While the publication of The Great Santini brought Pat much acclaim, the rift it caused brought even more attention, fracturing an already battered family. But as Pat tenderly chronicles here, even the oldest of wounds can heal. In the final years of Don Conroy's life, the Santini unexpectedly refocused his ire to defend his son's honor.

The Death of Santini is a heart-wrenching act of reckoning whose ultimate conclusion is that love can soften even the meanest of men, lending significance to the oft-quoted line from Pat's novel The Prince of Tides In families there are no crimes beyond forgiveness.

Praise for The Death of Santini

A painful, lyrical, addictive read that Pat Conroy's] fans won't want to miss.--People

Conroy's conviction pulls you fleetly through the book, as does the potency of his bond with his family, no matter their sins.--The New York Times Book Review

Vital, large-hearted and often raucously funny.--The Washington Post

Conroy writes athletically and beautifully, slicing through painful memories like a point guard splitting the defense.--Minneapolis Star Tribune

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - A deeply affecting coming-of-age memoir about family, love, loss, basketball--and life itself--by the beloved author of The Prince of Tides and The Great Santini

During one unforgettable season as a Citadel cadet, Pat Conroy becomes part of a basketball team that is ultimately destined to fail. And yet for a military kid who grew up on the move, the Bulldogs provide a sanctuary from the cold, abrasive father who dominates his life--and a crucible for becoming his own man.

With all the drama and incandescence of his bestselling fiction, Conroy re-creates his pivotal senior year as captain of the Citadel Bulldogs. He chronicles the highs and lows of that fateful 1966-67 season, his tough disciplinarian coach, the joys of winning, and the hard-won lessons of losing. Most of all, he recounts how a group of boys came together as a team, playing a sport that would become a metaphor for a man whose spirit could never be defeated.

Praise for My Losing Season

A superb accomplishment, maybe the finest book Pat Conroy has written.--The Washington Post Book World

A wonderfully rich memoir that you don't have to be a sports fan to love.--Houston Chronicle

A memoir with all the Conroy trademarks . . . Here's ample proof that losers always tell the best stories.--Newsweek

In My Losing Season, Conroy opens his arms wide to embrace his difficult past and almost everyone in it.--New York Daily News

Haunting, bittersweet and as compelling as his bestselling fiction.--Boston Herald

A powerfully moving book . . . You will laugh, you will weep, you will be proud and you will rail. --Charleston News and Courier

Yamacraw Island was haunting, nearly deserted, and beautiful. Separated from the mainland of South Carolina by a wide tidal river, it was accessible only by boat. But for the handful of families that lived on Yamacraw, America was a world away. For years these families lived proudly from the sea until waste from industry destroyed the oyster beds essential to their very existence. Already poor, they knew they would have to face an uncertain future unless, somehow, they learned a new life. But they needed someone to teach them, and their rundown schoolhouse had no teacher.

The Water Is Wide is Pat Conroy's extraordinary memoir based on his experience as one of two teachers in a two-room schoolhouse, working with children the world had pretty much forgotten. It was a year that changed his life, and one that introduced a group of poor Black children to a world they did not know existed.

A hell of a good story. --The New York Times

[Pat] Conroy cuts through his experiences with a sharp edge of irony. . . . He brings emotion, writing talent and anger to his story. --Baltimore Sun

#1 New York Times bestselling author Pat Conroy's classic semi-autographical novel of a harsh Marine father and his son's struggle to come into his own.

Robust and vivid...full of feeling. --Newsday

This is the story of Bull Meecham, the epitome of the Marine officer. Demanding, authoritarian, as tough a disciplinarian at home as at the base, Bull is a difficult man to please, and even harder to love.

This is also the story of Ben Meecham, Bull's oldest son. A gifted athlete whose best never satisfies his father, Ben must balance his own ambition with his father's expectations--and decide what course he will chart for himself and what kind of man he will become.

Piercing, bittersweet, and unforgettable, The Great Santini is Pat Conroy's semi-autobiographical lens into fathers and sons, and the powerful legacy one man can leave behind.

A startling, groundbreaking exploration, Military Brats is the first book to identify a cultural group--children of the military--that had been completely below the societal radar. Based on five years of research, including in-depth interviews with eighty military brats from all the armed services as well as physicians, teachers, psychologists, social workers, and others, this book finds the patterns that link all military children to a common cultural identity. Wertsch employs extensive research to probe the consequences-both positive and negative-of being raised in a family characterized by rigid discipline, nomadic rootlessness, dedication to military mission, and the threat of war and personal loss. With its clear-eyed, sometimes shocking depictions of alcoholism and domestic violence, and its empathy for military parents caught up in an extremely demanding way of life, Military Brats provides catharsis, insight, and a path toward healing. Mary Wertsch not only defines America's most invisible minority for the very first time, she also passionately exhorts the children of warriors to come to terms with their native Fortress legacies so that they might take full advantage of the positive endowment that is also their birthright.Civilians will find this book eye-opening. Military parents will find it at once challenging and sympathetic. And military brats will know in their hearts that this is the book they've been waiting for.This new edition retains the same content as the original, with only minor changes. This edition is now labelled Volume 1; a Volume 2 is in the works.

Bestselling author Pat Conroy acknowledges the books that have shaped him and celebrates the profound effect reading has had on his life.

Pat Conroy, the beloved American storyteller, is a voracious reader. Starting as a childhood passion that bloomed into a life-long companion, reading has been Conroy's portal to the world, both to the farthest corners of the globe and to the deepest chambers of the human soul. His interests range widely, from Milton to Tolkien, Philip Roth to Thucydides, encompassing poetry, history, philosophy, and any mesmerizing tale of his native South. He has for years kept notebooks in which he records words and expressions, over time creating a vast reservoir of playful turns of phrase, dazzling flashes of description, and snippets of delightful sound, all just for his love of language. But for Conroy reading is not simply a pleasure to be enjoyed in off-hours or a source of inspiration for his own writing. It would hardly be an exaggeration to claim that reading has saved his life, and if not his life then surely his sanity.

In My Reading Life, Conroy revisits a life of reading through an array of wonderful and often surprising anecdotes: sharing the pleasures of the local library's vast cache with his mother when he was a boy, recounting his decades-long relationship with the English teacher who pointed him onto the path of letters, and describing a profoundly influential period he spent in Paris, as well as reflecting on other pivotal people, places, and experiences. His story is a moving and personal one, girded by wisdom and an undeniable honesty. Anyone who not only enjoys the pleasures of reading but also believes in the power of books to shape a life will find here the greatest defense of that credo.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - A painful, lyrical, addictive read (People) by the cherished author of The Great Santini that brings his extraordinary career full circle

Pat Conroy's great success as a writer has always been intimately linked with the exploration of his family history. As the oldest of seven children who were dragged from military base to military base across the South, Pat bore witness to the often cruel and violent behavior of his father, Marine Corps fighter pilot Donald Patrick Conroy. While the publication of The Great Santini brought Pat much acclaim, the rift it caused brought even more attention, fracturing an already battered family. But as Pat tenderly chronicles here, even the oldest of wounds can heal. In the final years of Don Conroy's life, the Santini unexpectedly refocused his ire to defend his son's honor.

The Death of Santini is a heart-wrenching act of reckoning whose ultimate conclusion is that love can soften even the meanest of men, lending significance to the oft-quoted line from Pat's novel The Prince of Tides In families there are no crimes beyond forgiveness.

Praise for The Death of Santini

A painful, lyrical, addictive read that Pat Conroy's] fans won't want to miss.--People

Conroy's conviction pulls you fleetly through the book, as does the potency of his bond with his family, no matter their sins.--The New York Times Book Review

Vital, large-hearted and often raucously funny.--The Washington Post

Conroy writes athletically and beautifully, slicing through painful memories like a point guard splitting the defense.--Minneapolis Star Tribune

A brilliant storyteller, a master of sarcasm, and a hallucinatory stylist whose obsession with the impress of the past on the present binds him to Southern literary tradition.--The Boston Globe