Angela’s Ashes. A Memoir of a Childhood - ***

This book is dedicated to my brothers, Malachy, Michael,Alphonsus. I learn from you, I admire you and I love you.

Ac k n o w l e d g m e n t s

This is a small hymn to an exaltation of women.
R'lene Dahlberg fanned the embers.
Lisa Schwarzbaum read early pages and encouraged me.
Mary Breasted Smyth, elegant novelist herself, read the first third
and passed it on to Molly Friedrich, who became my agent and thought that
Nan Graham, Editor-in-Chief at Scribner, would be just the right person to put the book on the road.
And Molly was right.

My daughter, Maggie, has shown me how life can be
a grand adventure, while exquisite moments with
my granddaughter, Chiara, have helped me recall a small child's wonder.
My wife, Ellen, listened while I read and cheered me to the final page.

I am blessed among men.