Beach Music is Pat Conroy's novel about Jack McCall, a South Carolina native who flees the South with his daughter Leah after his wife commits suicide. This novel explores the Vietnam War-era, the Holocaust, and coming of age in the 20th century. It was published in 1995. Plot introduction Jack McCall, an American living in Rome with his daughter, is trying to find peace after the recent trauma of his wife's suicide, but his search for solitude is disturbed when a telegram from a family member summons Jack back to South Carolina to be with his ailing mother. He begins to explore his past and all its demons, as well as a new mystery: His sister-in-law and two school friends invite Jack to help them track down another classmate who went underground as a Vietnam protester and never resurfaced. As Jack begins a journey that encompasses the past and the present in both Europe and the American South, he also begins a quest that will lead him to shocking truths—and ultimately to catharsis, acceptance and maturity. Writing and publication Conroy began writing Beach Music as a way of coping with his own mother's death in 1984. Ten years later, he submitted 2,100 typed pages to Doubleday editor Nan A. Talese. With Conroy's consent and help, she trimmed it into a much shorter version. The book reached the top position on the New York Times Best Seller list. Paramount Pictures purchased the rights for $5.1 million, but , still hasn't made it into a movie. Scripts were written (and rewritten several times), and Brad Pitt was at one point offered the part. Interviewed in 2009, Conroy said the film plans are "still hanging out there." Themes Like The Prince of Tides, Conroy's earlier novel, Beach Music deals with "picking away at life's wounds with a sharp wit". Some other (potentially controversial) themes in the novel include: Suicide, as Jack deals with Shyla's suicidal leap from the South Carolina bridge by escaping to Rome in order to avoid traumatic family drama War, from the terrors of the Holocaust discussed by Jewish characters and the Vietnam War's effects on those left behind Mental illness, as Jack's youngest brother, John Hardin, who has bouts of schizophrenia Loss of innocence Self-awareness and acceptance of self and of personal heritage Finding forgiveness from others and from ourselves Abuse of power Death Grief Southern United States Southern