Caution to the Wind

Terry Prone has been a household name from the night, at thirteen years of age, when she tangled with the panel of a TV programme. Within a year of that, she was a regular panellist on the Late Late Show, known as a fearless teenager willing to take on anybody. At fifteen, she lied about her age to get into the Abbey Theatre School of Acting and soon starred in a West End production. Later, as Ireland’s Outstanding Teenager, she was interviewed by Barbara Walters on US television.
That was just the beginning of a phenomenal success story that made her the most successful businesswoman in Ireland from the 1970s, training people all over the world in communications while at the same time publishing thirty books and thousands of newspaper columns.
But at the heart of this book is the love story that forced Terry to throw caution to the wind. Because Tom Savage was a priest, and the church put every obstacle in their way. He was fired. She was fired. They weren’t allowed to marry. They considered emigration. Yet they re-invented themselves. Tom became first producer of RTE’s Morning Ireland and Terry was picked for the team setting up the Gay Byrne Hour. They set up a business training captains of industry and politicians. And then, when their son, Anton, was just six, Terry had a car crash that nearly killed her and left her in a wheelchair for a year.
One year later came Tom’s diagnosis of stomach cancer. Filled with laughter and love, with triumph and disaster, Caution to the Wind is an honest, funny account of an astonishing life. While Terry Prone is a seasoned author of novels and business books, Caution to the Wind is first book she has written about her personal life, and proves to be thoughtful, evocative and engaging.