Angela's Ashes
First edition cover
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| Author | Frank McCourt |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Scribner |
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Publication date
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5 September 1996 |
| Pages | 368 pp |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 34284265 |
| 929/.2/0899162073 20 | |
| LC Class | E184.I6 M117 1996 |
| Followed by | 'Tis |
Angela's Ashes: A Memoir is a 1996 memoir by the American author Frank McCourt. The memoir consists of various anecdotes and stories of Frank McCourt's childhood. The memoir details his very early childhood in Brooklyn, New York, but focuses primarily on his life in Limerick, Ireland. It also includes McCourt's struggles with poverty and his father's alcoholism. The book was published in 1996, and won the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography. The sequel 'Tis was published in 1999, followed by Teacher Man in 2005.
Born in Brooklyn, New York on 19 August 1930, Frank (Francis) McCourt is the oldest son of Malachy and Angela Sheehan McCourt. He lives with his parents and four younger siblings: Malachy, born in 1931; twins Oliver and Eugene, born in 1932; and a younger sister, Margaret, who dies seven weeks after birth, in 1935. Following this first tragedy, his family moves back to Ireland where Oliver and Eugene die within a year of the family's arrival and where Frank's youngest brothers, Michael (b. 1936) and Alphie (Alphonsus, b. 1940), are born.
Angela Sheehan emigrates from Ireland to the U.S. and meets Malachy McCourt after he has served a 3-month sentence for hijacking a truck. Angela becomes pregnant with Malachy's child; under pressure from Angela's cousins, Philomena and Delia MacNamara, Malachy marries Angela. Malachy does not think the marriage will last and attempts to run away to California, but spends all his traveling money at the pub. Over the next few years, Angela gives birth to Francis (Frank), then Malachy, twins Oliver and Eugene, and Margaret, who dies in infancy. Soon after Margaret's death, the McCourt family moves back to Ireland, where they both have family members who can help them.
Life in Ireland, specifically in Limerick, during the 1930s and 1940s is described in all its grittiness. The family live in a dilapidated, unpaved lane of houses that flood regularly. The McCourts' house is in the farthest part of the lane, near the only outdoor lavatory for the entire lane. Malachy Sr. teaches the children Irish stories and songs, but he is an alcoholic and seldom finds work. When he does, he spends his pay in the pubs. His family is forced to live on the dole since he cannot hold down a paying job for long due to his alcoholism. The father will often pick up and spend the welfare payment before Angela can get her hands on it to feed the starving children. For years the family subsists on little more than bread and tea. They are always wondering when their next real meal would be and whether the kids would have shoes for school. Despite all the hardships, many passages of the story are told with heartfelt humor and charm.
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