Like a lot of readers, I’m a huge Pat Conroy fan. If I had to pick a favorite book, it would be The Prince of Tides, and I devoured Beach Music and The Great Santini, too. 
I was thrilled when I heard Conroy would be back with a new novel this fall – his first in 14 years!
At BookPage we’re lucky enough to get advanced copies of books a few months ahead of publication, but I wasn’t expecting to see the new Conroy, called South of Broad, until May or June. So imagine my delight when it arrived in our piles of mail yesterday! The on sale date has moved up from September 15th to August 11th and I can hardly wait to dig in this weekend.
Conroy’s latest narrator is Leopold (Leo) Bloom King, and South of Broad tracks his life in Charleston, South Carolina after the suicide of his older brother. His family shattered, Leo eventually finds his place with a tightly knit group of high school friends, and the novel follows the intersections and complications of their lives through adulthood. I can’t wait to meet these characters, and I couldn’t resist taking a sneak peek at the Prologue this morning. Conroy begins: “It was my father who called the city the Mansion on the River. He was talking about Charleston, South Carolina, and he was a native son, peacock proud of a town so pretty it makes your eyes ache with pleasure just to walk down its spellbinding, narrow streets. Charleston was my father’s ministry, his hobbyhorse, his quiet obsession, and the great love of his life. His bloodstream lit up my own wit a passion for the city that I’ve never lost nor ever will. I’m Charleston-born, and bred. The city’s two rivers, the Ashley and the Cooper, have flooded and shaped all the days of my life on this storied peninsula.”
If the first paragraph is any indication, we are in for another treat, courtesy of the great Pat Conroy.
I love Pat Conroy’s work and can’t wait to see what you think!
Beach Music is one of my favorite books. Thanks for the heads up on his newest one!
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I am travel journalist, and I will attending a press trip to the Low Country in June. Does Pat Conroy ever leture near his home? I love “The Prince of Tides.” Pat is one of the most gifted authors of our time. I believe it was Pat Conroy that said, “You need to have a bad childhood to write a good book.” I am not sure of the exact quote, but I understand. I have been writing “tales” from my childhood recently, and it has made me face a lot of things that were buried. Writing has a way of bringing out the ghosts of your past. I have recently written an online travel article about Charleston. I can’t wait to read his new book.
Linda
How wonderful that Pat Conroy is back! Had the privilege of meeting him when our son graduated from The Citadel in Charleston. His writing is extraordinary! “Lords of Discipline” is a favorite for obvious reasons.
Hi,
I read on some other post that Pat has email. Truly amazing. He who proudly bypassed typing (with help from his father, but a cop out on life after his father….), the typewriter, he who writes with pencil on paper, has EMAIL now.
I met Pat in San Francisco towards the end of his second marriage and have some concerns about ending up in that new novel (maybe as a comma…)
I dated his classmates at the Citadel.
If I could choose to spend one day with a celebrity, it would be Pat Conroy. I would like to ask, “How do you do that?” Perhaps I will run into Pat on my trip to Bluffton, SC in June. I was feeling pretty good about a travel article that I wrote featuring the Romantic Charms of Charleston until I decided to read “The Prince of Tides” again. The man has a way with words. I can’t wait to read the new book. I am sure my discription of Charleston will pale in comparison.
Linda Holloway
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I’m excited about this. I loved “The Prince of Tides”. I need to visit his older books like “The Lords of Discipline” and “The Great Santini”
What an incredible first paragraph. It reminds me of Beach Music. If you have not read all of his novels, please go pick them up now. Spell-binding is an understatement.
Pat Conroy is the consumate wordsmith and storyteller and my favorite author of all time. I am so excited about his first release in over a dozen years and can’t wait to get my hands on it.
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oh my gad, puffy mudd, get it. the entire book reeked of the stuf, except in san francisco…could not put the book down wanted to savor every word, letter by letter…know charleston but never like this.
I read on some other post that Pat has email. Truly amazing. He who proudly bypassed typing (with help from his father, but a cop out on life after his father….), the typewriter, he who writes with pencil on paper, has EMAIL now.
I’m excited about this. I loved “The Prince of Tides”. I need to visit his older books like “The Lords of Discipline” and “The Great Santini”
goodo good thanks !What an incredible first paragraph. It reminds me of Beach Music. If you have not read all of his novels, please go pick them up now. Spell-binding is an understatement.
South of Broad was absolutely one of the best books I’ve read in a long time. Conroy is a master at creating characters and situations that stay with you long after the last page.