The Water Is Wide

“A powerfully moving book . . . You will laugh, you will weep, you will be proud and you will rail.” —Charleston News and Courier Yamacraw Island was haunting, nearly deserted, and beautiful. Separated from the mainland of South Carolina by a wide tidal river, it was accessible only by boat. But for the handful of families that lived on Yamacraw, America was a world away. For years these families lived proudly from the sea until waste from industry destroyed the oyster beds essential to their very existence. Already poor, they knew they would have to face an uncertain future unless, somehow, they learned a new life. But they needed someone to teach them, and their rundown schoolhouse had no teacher. The Water Is Wide is Pat Conroy’s extraordinary memoir based on his experience as one of two teachers in a two-room schoolhouse, working with children the world had pretty much forgotten. It was a year that changed his life, and one that introduced a group of poor Black children to a world they did not know existed. “A hell of a good story.” —The New York Times “[Pat] Conroy cuts through his experiences with a sharp edge of irony. . . . He brings emotion, writing talent and anger to his story.” —Baltimore Sun But in a place ignored by the twentieth century, what does it take to truly make a difference? An Unforgettable True Story: In the late 1960s, a young Pat Conroy takes a job no one else wants—teaching the forgotten children of a remote South Carolina island. A Teacher Against the System: Faced with a dilapidated school, nonexistent supplies, and total indifference from the school board, Conroy must choose between following the rules and actually teaching his students. A World Lost in Time: Discover Yamacraw, an island accessible only by boat, where families live by their own rules, untouched by the modern world, until their way of life is threatened.