Angela's Ashes

By: Frank McCourt

Narrated by: Frank McCourt

A Pulitzer Prize–winning, #1 New York Times bestseller, Angela’s Ashes is Frank McCourt’s masterful memoir of his childhood in Ireland—now with a new introduction by Patrick Radden Keefe.

“When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I managed to survive at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood.”

So begins the luminous memoir of Frank McCourt, born in Depression-era Brooklyn to recent Irish immigrants and raised in the slums of Limerick, Ireland. Frank’s mother, Angela, has no money to feed the children since Frank’s father, Malachy, rarely works, and when he does he drinks his wages. Yet Malachy—exasperating, irresponsible, and beguiling—does nurture in Frank an appetite for the one thing he can provide: a story. Frank lives for his father’s tales of Cuchulain, who saved Ireland, and of the Angel on the Seventh Step, who brings his mother babies.

Perhaps it is story that accounts for Frank’s survival. Wearing rags for diapers, begging a pig’s head for Christmas dinner and gathering coal from the roadside to light a fire, Frank endures poverty, near-starvation and the casual cruelty of relatives and neighbors—yet lives to tell his tale with eloquence, exuberance, and remarkable forgiveness.

Angela’s Ashes, imbued on every page with Frank McCourt’s astounding humor and compassion, is a glorious book that bears all the marks of a classic.©1997 Frank McCourt, All Rights Reserved; (P)1997 Simon & Schuster Inc., All Rights Reserved, Audioworks is an Imprint of Simon & Schuster Audio Division Simon & Schuster Inc.

compelling read

Poignant story of harsh poverty told with lyrical Irish wit and courage..in simplicity..through a young man's eyes and words

The Voice

I really enjoyed it. The author reading it with his accent really puts in place and time. I will be watching the movie next.

Amazing stories from an incredible storyteller

Where does Angela's Ashes rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I think this is the best audiobook I've listened to.

What did you like best about this story?

McCourt's stories of his childhood in the U.S. and Ireland bring up so many different emotions, sometimes simultaneously. I laughed so much, despite the tales of sadness and despair.

What about Frank McCourt’s performance did you like?

He is (or was) a master storyteller. I loved that he sang the songs and did the various voices. Listening to this was like stumbling into a pub and sitting next to McCourt as he recounts his life.

Any additional comments?

Everyone should listen to this audiobook, even if you've read the print version. Each is amazing in its own way. I was so sad when the book was over that I immediately downloaded 'Tis, which picks up after Angela's Ashes.

The characters of his mother and father were told harshly but also sympathetically.

Amazing story! Told about sad circumstances without bitterness. I have read it, but listening to it in his Irish brogue was great.

What an amazing journey…

He author was amazing and I felt like a bird listening to a heart life.