Frank McCourt's glorious childhood memoir, "Angela's Ashes," has been loved and celebrated by listeners everywhere for its spirit, its wit and its profound humanity. And now we have "'Tis," the story of Frank's American journey from impoverished immigrant to brilliant teacher and raconteur. Frank lands in New York at nineteen, in the company of a priest he meets on the boat. He gets a job at the Biltmore Hotel, where he immediately encounters the vivid hierarchies of this "classless country," and then is drafted into the army and is sent to Germany to train dogs and type reports. It is Frank's incomparable voice -- his uncanny humor and his astonishing ear for dialogue -- that renders these experiences spellbinding.When Frank returns to America in 1953, he works on the docks, always revisiting what everyone tells him, that men and women who have dreamed and toiled for years to get to America should "stick to their own kind" once they arrive. Somehow, Frank knows that he should be getting an education, and though he left school at fourteen, he talks his way into New York University. There, he falls in love with the quintessential Yankee, long-legged and blond, and tries to live his dream. But it is not until he starts to teach -- and to write -- that Frank finds his place in the world. The same vulnerable but invincible spirit that captured the hearts of listeners in "Angela's Ashes" comes of age.
Industry Reviews
Malcolm Jones "Newsweek""'Tis" is the story of a man finding two great vocations -- teaching and storytelling...a hard-nosed but lyrical conclusion to the story begun in "Angela's Ashes." Peter Collier "Los Angeles Times Book Review""'Tis" has those elements that made "Angela's Ashes" such a success -- the narrative brio, the fierce sympathy for human tie and torment, the intuitive feel for character and above all the love of language.
