Summary

Angela’s Ashes opens with the author, Frank McCourt, describing his childhood as a “miserable Irish Catholic childhood,” characterized by abject poverty, illness, and the alcoholism of his father, Malachy.

This chapter flashes back to describe the checkered history of Frank’s parents.

Malachy grows up in northern Ireland and, while fighting for the old Irish Republican Army, commits an unspecified crime. A price is placed on his head for committing the crime, forcing him to leave Ireland for America. A big drinker already, Malachy is dismayed to learn about the Prohibition in America. But he eventually discovers underground “speakeasies,” illegal drinking establishments. We also learn later in life, Malachy gives up drinking and “waits to die.”

Frank’s mother, Angela Sheehan, was born into the impoverished slums of Limerick. Her father, a drinker, once dropped her younger brother, Ab, on his head and injured...