Angela's Ashes

In the damp, cold climate of Ireland, the children have only one set of ragged clothing each, patched shoes and no coats or boots. Frank develops typhoid and is hospitalized. Later, he gets a job helping a neighbor with leg problems deliver coal and develops chronic conjunctivitis. The family is finally evicted after Frank takes a hatchet to the beams to burn for winter heat and the ceiling collapses in on them. The family is forced to move in with a distant relative who treats them poorly, eventually forcing a sexual relationship on Frank's mother, Angela. Teenage Frank starts work for the Post Office as a telegram delivery boy, and later delivers newspapers and magazines for Eason's. He also works for the local money lender writing threatening letters to the people who owed her money, as a means to save money and is finally able to realize his dream of returning to the United States. The story ends as he sails into Poughkeepsie, New York, to begin a new life at the age of nineteen.

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