South of Broad
Pat Conroy, 2009
An extravagant, funny, wounded voice recalls Charleston in 1969 and the friends who became his family.
Pat Conroy
Conroy's larger-than-life father, Marine Corps colonel Donald Conroy, became the model for the title character of The Great Santini.
Feels like home, friendship and tenderness.
What it's like to be born already in love with a place.
PrologueThe Mansion on the RiverIt 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 with 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. I carry the delicate porcelain beauty of Charleston like the hinged shell of some soft-tissued mollusk. My soul is peninsula-shaped and sun-hardened and river-swollen. Books by Pat Conroy
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