Pat Conroy Collection: The Prince of Tides / the Water Is Wide

The Prince of Tides
Pat Conroy has created a huge, brash thunderstorm of a novel, stinging with honesty and resounding with drama. Spanning forty years, this is the story of turbulent Tom Wingo, his gifted and troubled twin sister Savannah, and their struggle to triumph over the dark and tragic legacy of the extraordinary family into which they were born. Filled with the vanishing beauty of the South Carolina low country as well as the dusty glitter of New York City, The Prince of Tides is Pat Conroy at his very best.

The Water is Wide
Though the children of Yamacraw Island live less than two miles from the coast of South Carolina, they can't name the president or the ocean that surrounds them. Many can't sign their names. Most can't read or write--they're unable to reach their potential to grow and learn because they have been failed by their school district and handicapped by their poverty and isolation. But with the arrival of an eager young teacher, their prospects begin to brighten. Based on Pat Conroy's experiences teaching elementary school for a year on South Carolina's Daufuskie Island, The Water Is Wide is a revealing portrait of the inequalities of the American education system and a powerful story of the group of children that changed one man's life forever.