Angela McCourt Quotes

“Mam turns toward the dead ashes in the fire and sucks at the last bit of goodness in the Woodbine butt caught between the brown thumb and the burnt middle finger.”

″‘Well,’ she says, ‘is he going to be an altar boy?’ ‘There’s no room for him.‘”

“Dad stands for a minute, swaying, and puts the penny back in his pocket. He turns toward Mam and she says, You’re not sleeping in this bed tonight. He makes his way downstairs with the candle, sleeps on a chair, misses work in the morning, loses the job at the cement factory, and we’re back on the dole again.”

″‘He’s not coming, Mam. He doesn’t care about us. He’s just drunk over there in England.’ ‘Don’t talk about your father like that.‘”