South of Broad

I was wondering what my old boyfriend, Pat Conroy, has been up to the past couple of years so I did some poking around.

Be still my beating heart... he's written a new book!

At one point in time, I am sure that Mr. Conroy thought I was stalking him, and really, he would have been right. For several years I was at every reading, every book signing and every award ceremony. Many years ago, Pat Conroy was the first person in my life to pronounce my last name correctly and at that moment he had my heart. I adore all of his novels but I must be honest and say that I actually haven't finished reading 'My Losing Season' which I think is forgivable since it's a memoir about Citadel basketball. I'm fascinated by the cult that is the Citadel, but really, can basketball be any more boring? At least I got half-way through it... does that count?

South of Broad comes out this August, which seems like so long to wait! It will be toward the end of the summer, but I can't wait to get my copy and head to the beach (If I'm still in Charleston, that is!) On second thought, I think I will need two copies because there is no way I would take an autographed first edition of anything by Pat Conroy to the beach!

If you haven't read him, I suggest you do - especially if you have spent any time in South Carolina. Start with 'The Prince of Tides' and forget that you ever saw the movie. His writing will make you taste the salty ocean air, feel the sand under your feet and the warmth of the Carolina sun on your face.

SOUTH OF BROAD by Pat Conroy
Publisher Doubleday, August 2009

At last Pat Conroy brings to his readers who are legion a novel of his beloved Charleston. This time the eighteen-year-old protagonist Leopold Bloom King—yes, his mother is an ardent Joyce scholar—meets six new classmates who will join the senior class of Peninsula High School and develop a deep friendship that will last the twenty years of this glorious novel. As Pat Conroy is not a writer to hold back on either adventure or the pleasure of language, we are taken from the beautiful city of Charleston and its many islands to the mountains of North Carolina, the glamour of Hollywood and the trolleyed streets of San Francisco. In pursuit of the beautiful star Sheba Poe and her twin brother Trevor is their many-aliases father, escaped from prison, bent on terror and destruction. And, by their association with the twins, Leo, Niles and Starla Whitehead, Molly Huger and Chadworth Rutledge and his sister Fraser, and Ike and Susie Jefferson are also in danger. For readers of The Prince of Tides, The Great Santini, and Beach Music, August 2009 will be a month of great storytelling by America’s favorite storyteller.