The Story of Angela's Ashes

Angela’s Ashes is Frank McCourt’s memoir of growing up in New York and Ireland in complete poverty. The story takes place in the 1930’s and 1940’s when Frank (known as Francis in the book) was young. Francis’ parents, Malachy and Angela meet in New York and Angela gets pregnant with Francis. He remains an only child for only a year before his first sibling joins the family. Already struggling with two children, Malachy and Angela manage to have five more children over the next five or so years. Malachy can't control his need for "the drink" and can't ever seem to keep money in his pocket. Midst these struggles, the family moves to Ireland in hopes to make their worsening financial situation better. Malachy is unable to find or keep work for more than a couple weeks, so the family is constantly moving in and out of the homes of their various family members. Eventually, they find a run down, trashed place to live where the rent is affordable. By now, Angela has had Francis, Malachy (named after the father Malachy), a set of twins, a daughter and two more sons. Both twins and the daughter die of various reasons but the family remains in poverty. Still unable to find employment still, Malachy moves to England in hopes of finding real work. He does, but only send money back for a short period of time. At the age of ten, Francis falls very ill with typhoid and remains in the hospital for months. Francis meets a young girl who is dying of diphtheria and she introduces him to Shakespeare. At 13, Francis leaves school and looks for any possible job. Unable to pay the rent for their house, Angela and the kids are evicted, and once again, living with family. Francis finally raises up enough money to pay for his own ticket to New York where he can start a life of his own.