First published in 1986, The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy is an epic novel set in the American South and New York. Part-Bildungsroman, part family saga, and part dramatic tragedy, the novel spans 40 years in the tumultuous lives of the Wingo family of Melrose Island, South Carolina. Conroy uses flashbacks, stories-within-stories, and narrative digressions to explore complex themes such as domestic abuse, sexual violence, childhood trauma, and environmental degradation. Written in Conroy’s lush, vivid prose, the novel is notable for its descriptions of the marshlands of South Carolina and its sensitive exploration of the effect of trauma on mental health. The Prince of Tides, third in Conroy’s oeuvre, became an instant bestseller on its publication and was adapted into an Oscar-nominated film of the same name in 1991.

Pat Conroy (Donald Patrick Conroy; 1946-2016) is now known as one of the leading writers of late-20th century American South literature. Conroy authored many celebrated memoirs and novels, including The Water is Wide (1972) and The Great Santini (1976). His books were often adapted into films. The American South was the subject of perennial fascination for the Georgia-born writer, with most of his works set in the region. Conroy’s father was a US Marine Corps pilot who was physically and emotionally punishing toward his children like the father in Prince of Tides. His difficult relationship with his father and his itinerant upbringing as the child of a military officer informs many of the themes in Conroy’s works. Conroy also dealt with depression for much of his life, which gave him a unique perspective on mental health issues. His partnership with his third wife, the popular writer Cassandra King, was creative and happy. Conroy has six biological and adopted children.

This study guide follows the Bantam Books 1987 edition.

Plot Summary

Told from the first-person viewpoint of protagonist Tom Wingo, the narrative explores the effect trauma, abuse, and lies can have on a family. The family in question are the Wingos of Melrose Island, South Carolina: the patriarch Henry, his beautiful and clever wife Lila, and their three children, Luke and the twins Tom and Savannah. Tom’s narration is framed mainly as stories told to Dr Susan Lowenstein, the psychiatrist treating his sister Savannah. In 1981, Savannah, a famous poet living in New York, is admitted to Bellevue hospital for psychiatric treatment after yet another suicide attempt. Tom is a laid-off football coach and literature teacher who lives in South Carolina with his doctor wife Sallie and their three daughters. On Lila’s insistence, Tom visits a catatonic Savannah in the hospital. He stays over in New York to help Susan unravel the mysteries of Savannah’s past, which may hold the key to her recovery. Savannah has not spoken to her beloved twin Tom in three years. Luke is absent from the proceedings, which suggests there is something ominous about his fate.

Tom recalls that his childhood was a battlefield between his poetic mother and his army-veteran father. Though his parents introduced the three Wingo children to the wonders of nature surrounding their intercoastal island, they frequently also used them as pawns in their domestic strife. To make matters worse, the traditional and conservative Henry is violent toward Lila and the children. Meanwhile, Lila is dissatisfied with the family’s station in life and badly wants to be accepted in the high society of Colleton, the town of which Melrose Island is a part. To this extent, appearances matter immensely to Lila. When Henry is called to fight in North Korea in 1951, Lila and the children move to Atlanta for a year to live with Henry’s mother Tolitha, and her new husband Papa John. Tolitha is divorced from Amos, Henry’s father, who lives in Colleton. Tolitha also clings to the family habit of lying for appearances: she pretends to Papa John that her visiting family members are cousins, hiding her first marriage from him. In Atlanta, a criminal named Otis Miller begins to stalk Lila and the children from the surrounding Callanwolde woods, attacking Tolitha’s house several times. Yet neither Tolitha nor Lila reports the matter to the police or Papa John.

As Tom narrates his story to Susan, he falls in love with her. Tom’s marriage is in trouble, with Sallie having had an affair. At Susan’s request, Tom begins coaching her son Bernard in football and forms a warm bond with the unhappy teenager. Bernard is unhappy because his father, the violinist Herbert Woodruff, is judgmental and cold toward him. During Tom’s childhood, Henry, a shrimper, embarks on several get-rich-quick enterprises destined for failure. One of these involves buying a circus tiger, Caesar, whom the Wingos keep on their property. Savannah, who wants to be a writer, begins to experience dissociative episodes as she grows up. By the time Tom and Savannah graduate high school, Savannah is recognized as a prodigy, while Tom is set to be a star footballer. Luke is content to stay in Colleton, a place he loves. However, this bright future is complicated by a terrible event that Lila has made them hide all their lives. It is this event and its denial that worsens Savannah’s psychosis.

When Tom learns that Savannah has been disguising the event as a children’s story under a pen name, he finally tells Susan the truth. When Savannah and Tom are 17, Otis and two of his accomplices track the family to Melrose Island and violently rape Lila, Tom, and Savannah. Luke rescues his family with the help of Caesar. The Wingos kill the criminals and bury them on their property. Caesar is injured in the fight and dies. Much to her children’s disbelief, Lila doesn’t let them report the incident to the police and makes them promise they will forget about it. The family denies their trauma. Shortly afterward, Savannah attempts suicide for the first time.

Tom tells Susan this is not the end of misfortune for the Wingos. After he and Savannah leave home, Lila divorces Amos and marries Reese Newbury, Colleton’s richest man. Tom and Luke condemn Henry’s lifelong abuse of Lila but refuse to testify against him during the divorce proceedings, creating bitterness with Lila and their new stepfather. Lila gets Melrose Island as alimony. Luke gets called in to join the Vietnam War in 1971. Soon, in an example of the nexus between business and politics, Reese helps engineer the US Atomic Energy Commission to set up power plants in Colleton. The town, including Melrose Island, is to be demolished and relocated. Protesting the arbitrary move, Luke often lands on the wrong side of a biased local administration. Meanwhile, Henry gets arrested for transporting drugs in another one of his get-rich-quick schemes. Luke remains the last citizen in Colleton County, patrolling the abandoned town during nighttime. He seems to be increasingly showing signs of a mental health issue.

The narrative hurtles towards its tragic denouement. With the help of an accomplice, Luke bombs the railway lines connecting Colleton to the mainland. He also organizes a small guerrilla force, like he did to counter the Viet Cong in Viet Nam, to fight federal agents getting into Colleton, who in turn begin hunting Luke. Savannah and Tom arrive in Colleton and track Luke down to Marsh Hen Island, their secret hiding place in childhood. Tom has negotiated three years in prison for Luke’s voluntary surrender with an FBI agent. Tom and Savannah find Luke and convince him to turn himself in. Tom and Savannah leave for Colleton in a boat, and Luke is to follow them. However, on his way to Colleton, he is killed by a federal agent in a misunderstanding. Savannah and Tom bury their brother at sea. Soon after, Savannah publishes her second book of poems, The Prince of Tides, the title an allusion to her beloved older brother. A grieving Tom has a breakdown and is laid off from work. Savannah breaks all ties with the Wingos.

Tom has been able to tell the whole story of his siblings because he is narrating it to Susan, the woman he loves. However, Tom has decided to return to Sallie and his daughters. Susan accepts his decision gracefully. A year after Tom returns from New York, Amos is released from prison. Savannah is slowly recovering and arrives at Tom’s home to meet Amos. Lila and Tom decide to work on mending their relationship. It sounds like a perfect ending, but Tom acknowledges one difficulty. He is still deeply in love with Susan. The novel’s finale suggests life is messy, and people do the best they can to square their past, present, and future.