内容简介
In his most brilliant and powerful novel, Pat Conroy tells thestory of Tom Wingo, his twin sister, Savannah, and the dark andviolent past of the family into which they were born. Set in NewYork City and the lowcountry of South Carolina, the novel openswhen Tom, a high school football coach whose marriage and careerare crumbling, flies from South Carolina to New York after learningof his twin sister's suicide attempt. Savannah is one of the mostgifted poets of her generation, and both the cadenced beauty of herart and the jumbled cries of her illness are clues to thetoo-long-hidden story of her wounded family. In the paneled officesand luxurious restaurants of New York City, Tom and SusanLowenstein, Savannah's psychiatrist, unravel a history of violence,abandonment, commitment, and love. And Tom realizes that trying tosave his sister is perhaps his last chance to save himself. Withpassion and a rare gift of language, the author moves from presentto past, tracing the amazing history of the Wingos from World WarII through the final days of the war in Vietnam and into the 1980s,drawing a rich range of characters: the lovable, crazy Mr. Fruit,who for decades has wordlessly directed traffic at the sameintersection in the southern town of Colleton; Reese Newbury, theruthless, patrician land speculator who threatens the Wingos' onlysecure worldly possession, Melrose Island; Herbert Woodruff, SusanLowenstein's husband, a world-famous violinist; Tolitha Wingo,Savannah's mentor and eccentric grandmother, the first realfeminist in the Wingo family. Pat Conroy reveals the lives of hischaracters with surpassing depth and power, capturing the vanishingbeauty of the South Carolina lowcountry and a lost way of life. Hislyric gifts, abundant good humor, and compelling storytelling arewell known to readers of The Great Santini and The Lords ofDiscipline. The Prince of Tides continues that tradition yetdisplays a new, mature voice of Pat Conroy, signaling this work ashis greatest accomplishment.