1996; SIGNED BY FRANK McCOURT on title page to previous owner (pic); Scribner publishers, New York; hardbound in brown/redish boards with gilt lettering along spine; "Winner of the Pulitzer Prize" for literature; very good condition with unmarked pages; dust jacket very good condition.
Description -
Angela's Ashes: A Memoir is a 1996 memoir by the Irish-American author Frank McCourt, with various anecdotes and stories of his childhood. It details his very early childhood in Brooklyn, New York, but focuses primarily on his life in Limerick, Ireland. It also includes his struggles with poverty and his father's alcoholism.
The book was published in 1996 and won the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography. A sequel, 'Tis, was published in 1999, followed by Teacher Man in 2005.
Synopsis -
Born in Brooklyn, New York, on 19 August 1930, Frank (Francis) McCourt is the oldest son of Malachy McCourt and Angela Sheehan McCourt. Both of his parents immigrated from Ireland and married in a shotgun wedding over Angela's pregnancy with Frankie. Angela is originally from Limerick, Ireland, and is fond of music, singing, and dancing. Malachy is from Northern Ireland, is known for his "odd manner," is known for telling fantastical stories about Irish heroes, and is an alcoholic. Frankie is often said to closely resemble his father, having a hang-dog face and the same "odd manner." The narrative is told from the point of view of Frankie as a child.
In America, the McCourt's live in modern tenement housing next to a park and share a floor, and a communal lavatory, with other immigrant families from Ireland, Italy, and the Jewish communities.
Frankie has four younger siblings: Malachy, born in 1931, who is often favored over Frankie for being an attractive, open child; blond twins Oliver and Eugene, born in 1932; and an infant sister, Margaret, in 1935.
The family often struggles with poverty as Malachy Sr. engages in an endless struggle to find work and alcohol. The family's prospects, and Angela's spirits, lift whenever he finds a new job and brings home his first week's wages, but eventually he finds himself spending all of his pay in pubs, despite Angela's many schemes to prevent him from doing so, and losing his job after a few weeks...