Kirjahaku

"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.

#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." --NewsdayThis 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 powerfully moving book . . . You will laugh, you will weep, you will be proud and you will rail." --Charleston News and CourierYamacraw 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

In 1954, in Orlando, Florida, nine-year-old Pat Conroy discovered the game of basketball.

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

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

#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

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

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.

Pat Conroy's inspired masterpiece relates the dark and violent chronicle of an astounding family: the Wingos of Colleton, South Carolina. No reader will forget them. And no reader can remain untouched by their story.All Wingos share one heritage ... shrimp fishing, poverty and the searing memory of a single terrifying event - the source of Tom Wingo's self-hatred and of his sister Savannah's suicidal despair.To save himself and Savannah, Tom confronts the past with the help of New York psychologist Susan Lowenstein.As Tom and Susan unravel the bitter history of his troubled childhood, in episodes of grotesque humour, poignant lyricism and shattering violence, the door opens vividly onto a world peopled by a cast of colourful, eccentric and unforgettable characters.

Together they will encounter the hell of vicious bullying and the rabid, raunchy and dangerously secretive atmosphere of an arrogant and proud military institute. and one of them will not survive. Based on Conroy's own experiences at The Citadel Military school in Charleston, The Lords of Discipline is a remarkable novel.

He now returns with Beach Music, a story which tells of a family haunted by dark memories that reach back into the unutterable terrors of the Holocaust. Jack McCall, an American living in Rome with his young daughter, is trying to find peace after the recent trauma of his wife's suicide.

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

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

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

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

In a heartwarming new memoir, the author of The Water Is Wide reflects on the place of sports in his own life, describing his love of basketball, the role of the athlete for young men searching for their own identity and place in the world, his education at the Citadel, his relationship with his coach, and his journey to best-selling writer. Reprint.

This is a collection of 180 images from artist Jonathan Green. He paints the world of his childhood amongst the Gullah people of the South Carolina barrier islands. He reveals an awareness of the social and natural environments in which we live, elevating the everyday and celebrating the social.

How should we improve the state of South Carolina?" That invitingly open-ended question served as the basis for the first annual South Carolina High School Writing Contest as the call went out in fall 2013 to juniors and seniors across the Palmetto State, encouraging them to take a stance through good, thought-provoking writing. The nearly five hundred responses that resulted were as impressive in quality as they were in quantity. Young writers sounded off on issues of race relations, environmental conservation, economic imbalance, opportunities of infrastructure, substance and physical abuse, and the maladies of education. Most wrote on issues of education rooted in their own burgeoning awareness of its gifts and limitations in their lives. From that pool of contestants, twenty-three finalists rose to the top to have their initial entries and subsequent writing on a favorite book or place judged by best-selling author Pat Conroy. The insightful and often revelatory responses from those finalists - including the first, second, and third place winners by grade - are collected here in Writing South Carolina.In heartfelt essays, poems, short stories, and drama, these diverse writers lay bare their attitudes and impressions of South Carolina as they have experienced it and as they hope to reshape it. The resulting anthology is a compelling portrait of the Palmetto State's potential as advocated by some of its best and brightest young writers. Editor Steven Lynn provides an introduction and contest judge Pat Conroy provides a foreword to the collection.

The international bestseller: over a million copies sold in the US alone. An irresistible family saga that will reduce readers to tears.Leopold Bloom King is the son of an amiable, loving father who teaches science at the local high school. His mother, a former nun, is the high school principal and a respected Joyce scholar. He has had an unremarkable, happy family life. But after Leo's ten-year-old brother commits suicide, the family struggles with the shattering effects of his death, and Leo, lonely and isolated, searches for something to sustain him. Eventually, he finds his answer when he becomes part of a tight knit group of older high school students that includes Sheba and Trevor Poe - glamorous twins with an alcoholic mother and a prison-escapee father - hard-scrabble mountain runaways Niles and Starla Whitehead; socialite Molly Huger and her boyfriend, Chadworth Rutledge X - and an ever-widening circle whose liaisons will ripple across two decades, from 1960s counterculture through to the dawn of the AIDS crisis in the 1980s.The ties among them endure for years, surviving marriages happy and troubled, unrequited loves and unspoken longings, hard-won successes and devastating breakdowns, as well as the American South's dark legacy of racism and class divisions. But the final test of friendship that brings them to San Francisco is something no one is prepared for.