But when The Prince of Tides came out, thank God she was dead. I’m not sure I would have had the guts to publish that with her still alive. - Katherine Clark

Why do they not teach you that time is a fingersnap and an eyeblink, and that you should not allow a moment to pass you by without taking joyous, ecstatic note of it, not wasting a single moment of its swift, breakneck circuit? PAT CONROY, My Losing Season

When you’ve got a father who beats you, as a kid you think it’s your fault. You develop a self-destructive belief that you’re no good. The conflict Pat’s always had is whether he’s worth anything or worth nothing. MARION O’NEILL, Ph.D., ABPP, clinical psychologist

My father confused me about what it meant to become a man. From an early age, I knew I didn’t want to be anything like the man he was. PAT CONROY, My Reading Life