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I am very grateful for the outpouring of praise for my latest book my memoir about my life with Pat Conroy TELL ME A STORY. I’d like you all to know that I read everyone of them and the private messages. Until recently (about beginning of March 2020) I was on an extensive book tour where I tried to meet as many of you, my wonderful readers, as I could… Sadly, the world has taken a scary turn; my prayers are with all of you…
111 entries.
wrote on September 16, 2024
at
10:27 pm
hi cassandra, just finished reading tell me a story. beautifully written and very inspirational of how you and pat shared your lives together. can't wait to read more of the books you and pat have published. i'm sure pat is looking down with admiration at the story of how you both shared life together. this story inspired me and one i will always remember. god bless you and keep publishing more good books! Kathy
wrote on April 27, 2024
at
12:07 pm
I couldn’t resist your TMAS book last week at the local bookstore. I couldn’t put it down. You tell a pretty good story yourself and I certainly understand what a challenge it has always been to be a “same sweet girl”, tho that is one I’ve yet to read, but must now! I also married a presbyterian, who became a pastor, and we planted a church in Columbus, GA, stayed there 34 years, and retired. They, gratefully, never put me in any mold, and I only came to love China and silver on my own (and in small, wonderful doses). Like my Charleston grandmother (a character from a book), I decided around age 65 to throw out the stainless and use the Francis 1 everyday! Btw, I loved Moonrise, being familiar with Highlands a little, and my mom grew up South of Broad. My favorite of Pat’s books is the One about basketball. And I don’t even care about basketball. Hope you are doing well in your room writing and are at peace knowing how fortunate and blessed you were to find each other. It sounds like you definitely discovered what I consider one of the best pieces of advice for a long, happy marriage— let each other be what we are and enjoy life, or tread through the hard parts as best as you can, with all the joy, patience, and grace only God can give us. You did good! Brooke
wrote on April 20, 2024
at
5:15 am
Thank you for your wonderful book, Tell Me A Story. I was fortunate to meet Pat at the Decatur Book Festival. Last month we went to Daufuskie Island to visit all the places Pat had been and taught (The Water Is Wide). What a gift he was and continues to be through you and his books. Now it is time to read another of your book. Thank you again!
wrote on March 28, 2024
at
11:01 am
I never wrote to Pat Conroy to tell him how much joy his writing gave me. I am so sorry for that. I have read all of his books (and re-read some!) and have a bookshelf dedicated to him in our living room. Late to the party, I have just finished Tell Me A Story. It will be added to my Conroy bookshelf, as will I'm sure, all Cassandra King Conroy books! The good fortune for me is that I have your books to look forward to. You write so beautifully -- it is clear why you and Pat fell in love with each other's work. Thank you for sharing your love story with him and letting us know you as well. Can't wait to start my second Cassandra Conroy book!
wrote on March 12, 2024
at
3:37 pm
I loved this book. My biggest takeaway was regret that I never got to meet Pat Conroy. You really made me love him and you too! We were reading ‘ The Great Santinin’ for book club. Several of us followed that up with ‘Death of Santini’. That lead me to ‘Tell Me A Story’. It was truly a wonderful journey.
wrote on February 18, 2024
at
6:13 pm
My sister has a place on Fripp Island and now lives in Beaufort but I fell in love with the author Pat Conroy way before that! I remember telling my Mother to read Beach Music because I loved his story telling so much! She did not like it and wanted to know if I was sending her a message. I’m sure the story made my Mother sad and guilty. Present day, I was visiting Deland, Fl. and picked up your book “Tell Me A Story”, I got “gooseys” reading it on the way home. I could feel the story you were telling and having clarity of the person Pat Conroy and also your relationship. It is beautifully written. Thank you
wrote on January 8, 2024
at
9:45 pm
I started crying after less than 5 minutes of listening on my Audible app. My precious man passed away 5 years ago. Y’all’s nightmare reminded me of ours. I’m at your first New Orleans trip. In between crying, I let out a deep snort or a cross between a laugh and a gulp. It reminds me of our first trip to Orange Beach. I also put on airs, not wanting Mark to know how out of my comfort zone I was.
I’m so sorry your precious man is no longer here with you. I feel he and my precious man may be looking down at me right now, while they laugh at me crying, snorting, and wearing this silk sleeping bonnet I’ve been trying out for less frizz. Oh how I miss my precious man. And although this book of yours has opened my flood gates, I can’t stop listening and won’t. ❤️
I’m so sorry your precious man is no longer here with you. I feel he and my precious man may be looking down at me right now, while they laugh at me crying, snorting, and wearing this silk sleeping bonnet I’ve been trying out for less frizz. Oh how I miss my precious man. And although this book of yours has opened my flood gates, I can’t stop listening and won’t. ❤️
wrote on November 20, 2023
at
2:41 am
Hi Cassandra,
I enjoyed a fun girls trip to Fripp Island, South Carolina on October 26-29, 2023. One of the highlights of our trip was attending your session with Mary Kay Andrews, Mary Alice Monroe, Virginia Benton Frank, and a book editor at the Pat Conroy Film Festival. After your talk, I immediately downloaded Tell Me A Story on my Kindle. It was such a poignant memoir about you and your life with Pat. In fact, your book submerged so deeply into my bones that I had to write a blog about it on my Facebook. Like you, I love to write!! I’m not a professional, but I do enjoy processing observations, ideas, thoughts, feelings, etc. and putting them down on paper.
In 2019, I began writing a blog about my experiences with breast cancer. I found blogging to be very cathartic for me and I discovered that my blogs were helpful to other people going through breast cancer journeys.
Like you so beautifully displayed in your book, I too enjoy an irreverent sense of humor! You are truly a southern girl with lots of movie 😘
I look forward to reading The Same Sweet Girls!
By the way, I’m the lady in the audience who said that I thought your writing was your ministry… helping others through whatever they are going through in their lives … grief, pain, loneliness, giving joy, hope, encouragement, humor…
Thank you for sharing your creative gift with the world!
Sue Rowland
I enjoyed a fun girls trip to Fripp Island, South Carolina on October 26-29, 2023. One of the highlights of our trip was attending your session with Mary Kay Andrews, Mary Alice Monroe, Virginia Benton Frank, and a book editor at the Pat Conroy Film Festival. After your talk, I immediately downloaded Tell Me A Story on my Kindle. It was such a poignant memoir about you and your life with Pat. In fact, your book submerged so deeply into my bones that I had to write a blog about it on my Facebook. Like you, I love to write!! I’m not a professional, but I do enjoy processing observations, ideas, thoughts, feelings, etc. and putting them down on paper.
In 2019, I began writing a blog about my experiences with breast cancer. I found blogging to be very cathartic for me and I discovered that my blogs were helpful to other people going through breast cancer journeys.
Like you so beautifully displayed in your book, I too enjoy an irreverent sense of humor! You are truly a southern girl with lots of movie 😘
I look forward to reading The Same Sweet Girls!
By the way, I’m the lady in the audience who said that I thought your writing was your ministry… helping others through whatever they are going through in their lives … grief, pain, loneliness, giving joy, hope, encouragement, humor…
Thank you for sharing your creative gift with the world!
Sue Rowland
wrote on September 6, 2023
at
8:40 pm
I thoroughly enjoyed "Tell Me a Story," after reading Pat's books and following his life for so long, your book gave many new insights to him and his wonderful life with you. He was a treasure!
wrote on September 4, 2023
at
6:17 pm
I just finished reading Tell Me A Story. Picked it up at the library yesterday and read most of it that day. Finished it first thing today-Memorial Day. Funny how you mentioned Memorial Day 3 or more times as being at memorial events in your book. I found the book just as enjoyable as the Pat books I’ve enjoyed. Eager to read more of your work. Would love to meet you someday...
wrote on September 2, 2023
at
9:38 am
I just finished your beautiful book. Between the laughter and”sweating eyeballs” I fell in love with you both. God’s blessings on you Mrs. King Ray Conroy. Thank you for sharing this beautiful story with us.
wrote on August 13, 2023
at
6:29 pm
I just finished reading “Tell Me a Story.” It’s such a wonderful book. I feel like I know you both. Loved seeing the pictures on your website. Such a joy to read your story. Blessings!
wrote on July 24, 2023
at
4:24 pm
I just read the Q&A you did with Atlanta magazine and hope that things are at least a little bit better for you regarding Pat's passing. I read The Prince of Tides when I was 11 years old, and 15 years later, I was freelancing for the Durham Herald-Sun and working at Rite Aid. Pat was going to be in Chapel Hill for a signing of "Beach Music," and I scored a pre-signing phone interview with him.
I told my boss at Rite Aid I couldn't work a shift the next day because I had the interview, and Miz Barbara told me that I either had to come in and work the shift or don't come back at all. The next day I was on the phone with Pat and never darkened Rite Aid's doorways again. I left journalism just a couple of years ago, and that 45 minutes on the phone with Pat were the best 45 minutes of my entire career.
I told my boss at Rite Aid I couldn't work a shift the next day because I had the interview, and Miz Barbara told me that I either had to come in and work the shift or don't come back at all. The next day I was on the phone with Pat and never darkened Rite Aid's doorways again. I left journalism just a couple of years ago, and that 45 minutes on the phone with Pat were the best 45 minutes of my entire career.
wrote on April 15, 2023
at
8:37 pm
I just read your story in Southern Living about Fripp Island. My beloved husband recently died tragically in a helicopter accident. You said you could not go back to Fripp after he died. I am going through all those feelings myself. Life can be so unfair!
wrote on March 29, 2023
at
4:19 pm
I have just finished reading THE SUNDAY Wife. Wow! Where should I begin!? Your plot twists and turns that I did not see coming... your believable dialogue... your prose with all its metaphors and similes... kept me turning pages. Thank you for giving me such a memorable read... suspense and surprise all dressed up in clerical garb.
P.S. I also enjoyed your article about Fripp Island in the current issue of SOUTHERN LIVING. Figure I should go there on my next trip down Beaufort way.
P.S. I also enjoyed your article about Fripp Island in the current issue of SOUTHERN LIVING. Figure I should go there on my next trip down Beaufort way.
wrote on January 13, 2023
at
12:54 am
I just finished listening to Tell Me a Story and drying my eyes. Pat is one of my favorite authors ever, so I loved learning more about him as a person and a husband.
I met him at a book signing in Atlanta for Beach Music, and he was so gracious. He had been signing books for 2+ hours when I got to him, but he still had time and energy to ask me what I did for a living (high school English teacher just a few years into my career) and chat so kindly about it.
I wrote an essay about teaching that was published at the end of the anniversary edition trade paperback of The Water Is Wide that was released around 2008 or 2009, resulting from a serendipitous chain of events when one of my students wrote to Pat and received a response from Marly Rusoff.
Your beautiful but realistic descriptions of Pat’s final days reminded me of my father’s passing last March (lots of ugly crying there). I’m so glad that you found happiness with each other. Thank you for telling us this story.
I met him at a book signing in Atlanta for Beach Music, and he was so gracious. He had been signing books for 2+ hours when I got to him, but he still had time and energy to ask me what I did for a living (high school English teacher just a few years into my career) and chat so kindly about it.
I wrote an essay about teaching that was published at the end of the anniversary edition trade paperback of The Water Is Wide that was released around 2008 or 2009, resulting from a serendipitous chain of events when one of my students wrote to Pat and received a response from Marly Rusoff.
Your beautiful but realistic descriptions of Pat’s final days reminded me of my father’s passing last March (lots of ugly crying there). I’m so glad that you found happiness with each other. Thank you for telling us this story.
wrote on December 28, 2022
at
12:05 pm
Hello again. Now that I have finished reading TELL ME A STORY, I want to thank you for your captivating narrative about your life with Pat Conroy.
As I have told you, I find your writing to be so relatable. For example, your comments about Doug Marlette caused me to recall having heard him speak during the days of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker and PTL, Senators Jesse Helms and John East. Furthermore, having read some of Rick Bragg's books and his Southern Living Magazine articles, seemed I could see him barreling onto his mother's driveway. Then, I thought I heard him speak with his words all wrapped up in that Alabama drawl of his. Thank you.
I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and holiday season.
David
As I have told you, I find your writing to be so relatable. For example, your comments about Doug Marlette caused me to recall having heard him speak during the days of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker and PTL, Senators Jesse Helms and John East. Furthermore, having read some of Rick Bragg's books and his Southern Living Magazine articles, seemed I could see him barreling onto his mother's driveway. Then, I thought I heard him speak with his words all wrapped up in that Alabama drawl of his. Thank you.
I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and holiday season.
David
wrote on December 23, 2022
at
4:15 pm
Dearest Cassandra, I too am one of the adoring acolytes kneeling at the feet of this fabulous capturer of the English language. There is no thanks large enough to thank you for completing this portion of his/your tale and now I have two of you to love. (My family found me in the bathroom doubled over with laughter at Bernie and Pat’s search and rescue ride for you!) my husband found me a little later sobbing, again, over the end. as a retired Episcopal priest of some 36 years, the Angel and the Bridge will stay with me for the rest of my life. I give thanks for your marvelous spirit and prayers for a beautiful 2023. The Rev. Liz Goodyear Jones
wrote on November 22, 2022
at
4:47 pm
Thank you, again, for signing your books for me during this year's Seventh Annual Pat Conroy Literary Festival. As you may recall, you signed one of THE SUNDAY WIFE copies and addressed it to the widow of the preacher who performed the marriage ceremony for my wife and me. Her immediate reaction after reading the first few pages: "Oh lordy...I'm beginning to have flashbacks". Then, yesterday, she wrote: Just finished the novel...and I'm exhausted! Didn't want it to end...King certainly knows how to write a page turner!! So relieved it ended the way it did. Thank you for thinking of me..."
Just thought you'd like to know my widow friend's comments. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting you.
Hope you have a nice Thanksgiving.
David
Just thought you'd like to know my widow friend's comments. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting you.
Hope you have a nice Thanksgiving.
David
wrote on November 14, 2022
at
8:31 am
COVID finally found me, and gave me the gift of time to read “Tell me a story”. I could not put it down.
Westerners, we discovered Hunting Island when my husband was at school at Clemson in the 80’s. After that happy accident our small family spent Christmas every other year on the island. It was a magical place for us, and as did you we decorated with palmetto and ate low country boil. The inevitable finally happened, our rental home washed away leaving only scatterings of foundation at the end of a now dead end road and a rusty, sand blasted coat hook we found while walking the beach the year after the sea took “Driftwood”.
That darn coat hook is one of our most precious possessions. Your walk along the shore finding “sand dollar spit”so resonated with me, those feelings of wonder tinged with a little loneliness. Of course a visit to the island included a stack of Conroy novels. During those visits we were aware that the Conroys were one island away, but alas although I heard Pat stories all over Beaufort no sightings.
Your memoir was a beautiful story of how two strong personalities can live a loving, respectful, creative, and joyful life together. Thank you for sharing stories of your life, and for filling in the gaps as we looked over at Fripp and thought “I wonder what the Conroys are doing”.
The library tells me I now have a stack of Cassandra King novels on hold. I cannot wait to dive into your stories.
Westerners, we discovered Hunting Island when my husband was at school at Clemson in the 80’s. After that happy accident our small family spent Christmas every other year on the island. It was a magical place for us, and as did you we decorated with palmetto and ate low country boil. The inevitable finally happened, our rental home washed away leaving only scatterings of foundation at the end of a now dead end road and a rusty, sand blasted coat hook we found while walking the beach the year after the sea took “Driftwood”.
That darn coat hook is one of our most precious possessions. Your walk along the shore finding “sand dollar spit”so resonated with me, those feelings of wonder tinged with a little loneliness. Of course a visit to the island included a stack of Conroy novels. During those visits we were aware that the Conroys were one island away, but alas although I heard Pat stories all over Beaufort no sightings.
Your memoir was a beautiful story of how two strong personalities can live a loving, respectful, creative, and joyful life together. Thank you for sharing stories of your life, and for filling in the gaps as we looked over at Fripp and thought “I wonder what the Conroys are doing”.
The library tells me I now have a stack of Cassandra King novels on hold. I cannot wait to dive into your stories.
