“In
The Lost Prince
Michael Mewshaw sets down one of the most gripping stories of friendship I’ve ever read.” —Daniel Menaker, author of
My Mistake: A Memoir
Pat Conroy was America’s poet laureate of family dysfunction. A larger–than–life character and the author of such classics as
The Prince of Tides
and
The Great Santini
, Conroy was remembered by everybody for his energy, his exuberance, and his self–lacerating humor.
Michael Mewshaw’s
is an intimate memoir of his friendship with Pat Conroy, one that involves their families and those days in Rome when they were both young—when Conroy went from being a popular regional writer to an international bestseller. Family snapshots beautifully illustrate that time. Shortly before his forty–ninth birthday, Conroy telephoned Mewshaw to ask a terrible favor. With great reluctance, Mewshaw did as he was asked—and never saw Pat Conroy again.
Although they never managed to reconcile their differences completely, Conroy later urged Mewshaw to write about “me and you and what happened . . . i know it would cause much pain to both of us. but here is what that story has that none of your others have.”
is Mewshaw’s fulfillment of a promise.