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Pat Conroy was a bestselling American author who wrote literary fiction and nonfiction. Born in 1945 in Atlanta, Georgia, as Donald Patrick Conroy, he was the oldest of seven children.
His father was a Marine Officer from Chicago. Conroy credits his mother, a Southern Beauty for igniting his love for the written word.
Order of Pat Conroy Standalone Novels
| # | Read | Title | Published | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Boo | 1970 | Description / Buy | |
| 2 | The Great Santini | 1976 | Description / Buy | |
| 3 | The Lords of Discipline | 1980 | Description / Buy | |
| 4 | The Prince of Tides | 1986 | Description / Buy | |
| 5 | Beach Music | 1995 | Description / Buy | |
| 6 | South of Broad | 2009 | Description / Buy |
Order of Pat Conroy Non-Fiction Books
| # | Read | Title | Published | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Water is Wide | 1972 | Description / Buy | |
| 2 | My Losing Season | 2002 | Description / Buy | |
| 3 | The Pat Conroy Cookbook | 2004 | Description / Buy | |
| 4 | My Life in Books / My Reading Life | 2010 | Description / Buy | |
| 5 | The Death of Santini | 2013 | Description / Buy | |
| 6 | A Lowcountry Heart | 2016 | Description / Buy |
Pat Conroy Anthologies
| # | Read | Title | Published | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stories from the Blue Moon Café | 2002 | Description / Buy | |
| 2 | The Wavedancer Benefit: A Tribute to Frank Muller | 2002 | Description / Buy | |
| 3 | FIRST WORDS: Earliest Writing from Favorite Contemporary Authors | 2009 | Description / Buy | |
| 4 | Don't Quit Your Day Job: Acclaimed Authors and the Day Jobs They Quit | 2010 | Description / Buy | |
| 5 | State of the Heart: South Carolina Writers on the Places They Love | 2013 | Description / Buy | |
| 6 | A Path to the World | 2022 | Description / Buy | |
| 7 | A Word on Words: The Best of John Seigenthaler's Interviews | 2023 | Description / Buy |
The author’s family moved frequently during his childhood. They kept migrating from military base to military base. Despite his overwhelming desire to write, Conroy joined The Citadel, a Charleston, South Carolina military college.
He doesn’t regret the decision because he made several friends at The Citadel, some of whom encouraged him to pursue his dreams. After completing his stint at the college, the author joined Beaufort High School as an English and Psychology teacher.
While his followers knew him primarily for his books, Conroy was just as passionate about teaching. He went so far as to teach underprivileged children on a small island off the South Carolina mainland.
Conroy’s time on Daufuskie was life-changing because he developed a great love for his students, many of whom had been neglected by the school system. Because he was determined to make a difference, the author clashed with his superiors due to his unconventional teaching practices.
He also rejected corporal punishment. Many readers learned of his time at Daufuskie by reading ‘The Water is Wide,’ a memoir that earned the author an award because of its raw depiction of racism in public schools.
Conroy continued this trend of taking inspiration from real life when he wrote ‘The Great Santini,’ which explored his father’s abusive tendencies. Again, the author was unflinching in his depiction of the events that shaped his childhood.
This time, the book had lasting consequences, leading Conroy into a tumultuous period that destroyed his marriage to his wife. It also led to his parents’ divorce. His mother presented the book as evidence in the divorce proceedings.
But Conroy was far from done. The next book he wrote exposed the violence and hypocrisy behind America’s military institutions. Naturally, his time at The Citadel was the author’s primary source of inspiration.
On the personal front, Conroy was first married in 1969. The woman in question was a widow with two children. Their marriage ended in 1977.
His next wife was also a mother to two children. Like his first marriage, Controy’s second marriage produced one daughter.
His third wife was a fellow novelist (Cassandra King). The author was fascinated by her ability to find joy in her work. He would hear her cackling while she wrote, an experience to which he couldn’t relate because his manuscripts had a gloomy aspect.
The author died in 2016 from pancreatic cancer. He was 70 years old.
Pat Conroy Awards
Conroy’s accolades include the Anisfield Wolf Book Award, Beaufort Regional Chamber Of Commerce Palmetto Achievement Award, Thomas Wolfe Prize, and the F. Scott Fitzgerald Award, to mention but a few.
Pat Controy Books Into Movies
‘The Water Is Wide,’ ‘The Great Santini,’ ‘The Lords Of Discipline,’ and ‘The Prince of Tides’ received live-action film adaptions.
Best Pat Conroy Books
Beach Music: Jack’s life took a tragic turn when his wife killed herself. Before he could come to terms with the loss, Shyla’s parents sued him for custody of his child, going so far as to accuse him of beating his daughter. They argued that Jack could have prevented Shyla’s passing if he’d been a better father and husband.
However, retaining custody of his daughter was merely the first hurdle. Jack was about to embark on a journey to uncover his family’s haunting secret, a secret that would either heal his heart or destroy him.
The Great Santini: Bull Meechum was a man’s man, a marine who ruled the sky and demanded admiration and respect from everyone he met, including his family.
Bull’s wife Lillian was a southern beauty who did what she could to keep the peace at home. However, she couldn’t extinguish the tension between Bull and his eldest son, Ben.
Ben was a born athlete. Unfortunately, nothing he did could ever satisfy his old man, although that did not stop him from trying.
‘The Great Santini’ is autobiographical. It attempts to explore Pat Conroy’s childhood and the trials he faced.
When Does The Next Pat Conroy book come out?
Pat Conroy doesn't seem to have an upcoming book. Their newest book is A Lowcountry Heart and was released on October, 25th 2016. It is the newest book in the Pat Conroy Non-Fiction Books.