Angela's Ashes

Book #1 in the Frank McCourt series

A boy's journey through poverty and resilience in 1930s New York and 1940s Ireland.

4.2/5 Goodreads · 667,243 ratings

452 pages· 141,977 words

$17.75Save 5%

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Bookroo's summary

Frank McCourt recounts his tumultuous childhood in New York and Ireland, where poverty and his father's alcoholism threaten his family's survival. Amidst the chaos, his mother Angela struggles to hold them together. As Frank navigates the harsh realities of slum life, he discovers humor and hope in unexpected places. Will he find a way to rise above the despair and forge a new path? This memoir captures the indomitable spirit of a boy determined to overcome the odds, offering a poignant glimpse into a world of hardship and resilience.

From the publisher

Stunning reissue of the phenomenal worldwide bestseller: Frank McCourt’s sad, funny, bittersweet memoir of growing up in New York in the 30s and in Ireland in the 40s. Angela’s Ashes is Frank McCourt’s sad, funny, bittersweet memoir of growing up in New York in the 30s and in Ireland in the 40s. It is a story of extreme hardship and suffering, in Brooklyn tenements and Limerick slums – too many children, too little money, his mother Angela barely coping as his father Malachy’s drinking bouts constantly brought the family to the brink of disaster. It is a story of courage and survival against apparently overwhelming odds. Written with the vitality and resonance of a work of fiction, and a remarkable absence of sentimentality, Angela’s Ashes is imbued on every page with Frank McCourt’s distinctive humour and compassion. Out of terrible circumstances, he has created a glorious book in the tradition of Ireland’s literary masters, which bears all the marks of a great classic.

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