Angela's Ashes
When Frank McCourt looks back on his childhood he calls it miserable: born in Depression-era Brooklyn to recent Irish immigrants and raised in the slums of Limerick, Ireland. His mother Angela has no money to feed the children because his father Malachy rarely works and drinks his wages.
Frank survives wearing rags for diapers, begging a pig’s head for Christmas dinner, gathering coal from the roadside, and enduring the casual cruelty of relatives and neighbors. He also lives for his father’s tales of Cuchulain and the Angel on the Seventh Step, which help him endure poverty and near-starvation.
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Book details
- Publisher
- Scribner
- Publication date
- May 25, 1999
- Print length
- 368 pages
- Language
- English
- ISBN
- 978-0684842677
Biography + Memoir + Great Britain
What to Know Before Reading Angela's Ashes
Frank’s early life is rooted in Limerick poverty, family dependence, and near-starvation. The household dynamic focuses on Angela’s lack of means and Malachy’s frequent unemployment and drinking. Storytelling plays a central role as Malachy’s tales and family lore shape how Frank endures hardship. Expect a narrative oriented around survival, family relationships, and the small, often harsh details of daily life in Depression-era Irish slums.
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About the author
Frank McCourt, Brooke Zimmer, John Fontana
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