Frank McCourt continues his life story in the brilliant, bestselling sequel to the million-selling Angela's Ashes. Angela's Ashes was a publishing phenomenon. Frank McCourt's critically acclaimed, lyrical memoir of his Limerick childhood won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critics' Circle Award, the Royal Society of Literature Award and the Los Angeles Times Award amongst others, and rapidly became a word-of-mouth bestseller topping all charts worldwide for over two years. It left readers and critics alike eager to hear more about Frank McCourt's incredible, poignant life. 'Tis is the story of Frank's American journey from impoverished immigrant with rotten teeth, infected eyes and no formal education to brilliant raconteur and schoolteacher. Saved first by a straying priest, then by the Democratic party, then by the United States Army, then by New York University - which admitted him on a trial basis though he had no high school diploma - Frank had the same vulnerable but invincible spirit at nineteen that he had at eight and still has today. And 'Tis is a tale of survival as vivid, harrowing, and often hilarious as Angela's Ashes. Yet again, it is through the power of storytelling that Frank finds a life for himself. 'It is only the best storyteller who can so beguile his readers that he leaves them wanting more when he's done!McCourt proves himself one of the very best' (Newsweek). 'Tis blesses readers with another chapter of McCourt's story, but as it closes, they will want still more.

About the Author

Frank McCourt is the author of the Pulitzer Prize winning and best-selling Angela's Ashes. It has sold two million copies in the UK and tens of millions worldwide. He followed this with the best-selling Tis and the final in the trilogy, Teacher Man, will be published in 2005. For thirty years he taught in NYC schools, before, in his 60s, settling down to write his story.

Prizes

Includes PS Section Frank McCourt continues his life story in the brilliant, bestselling sequel to the million-selling Angela's Ashes. This stunning reissue of 'Tis is a forerunner to the publication of Frank McCourt's new memoir Teacher Man. 'Tis has sold over 600,000 copies in paperback in the UK.

Reviews

'Tis, the sequel to Angela's Ashes, furthers the story of McCourt, beginning with his arrival in America in 1949 at the age of 19. Continuing the tough life he had in Ireland, he also finds it difficult to make a living in New York. His first job is as a busboy at the Biltmore Hotel, where he admires and envies the young folks he serves, with their college educations and comfortable lives. After floating from one dead-end job to another, he joins the army during the Korean War, where he learns to type--a skill that helps him when he returns to civilian life. McCourt narrates his story with the same biting awareness and lyrical turn of phrase that are the hallmarks of his previous book. Despite a sluggish start and an initial tendency toward whininess, McCourt captures once again the drudgery, cruelty, and hardships poor people face; his insight into the human soul is remarkable. A masterful storyteller, McCourt has an Irish brogue that makes this an enchanting listening experience. Highly recommended for all libraries.--Gloria Maxwell, Penn Valley Community Coll., Kansas City, MO Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

"Tis feels like a friend, telling the tales of his life over a pint, with charm and humour, economy and pace. There is a sense of loss when you have to close the pages and sleep, or go on to other things. McCourt is a masterful writer... All who read Angela's Ashes will read 'Tis. They will love it, and so did I.' Independent on Sunday 'Few will be able to resist this pacey and fluid sequel... In post-war New York, McCourt moves through work as a longshoreman, a spell in the army, to night-school, to become a creative writing teacher encouraging his kids to "write about what you know" - the same policy that has led him to belated international celebrity...McCourt's gift lies not simply in having lived through interesting times, but having developed his skills as an editor and narrator to produce two fine, funny and moving slices of a past that is not simply Ireland's, but everyone's.' Guardian 'Every page contains an unforced laugh...The gloom is indivisible from moments of great joy and compassion - the sound of jazz pouring form a club, the comforting arm of a fellow worker - which McCourt is able to express in his fresh and supple prose. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, McCourt has the power to transform even the saddest recollections into sentences of great beauty, and in that beauty lies the possibility of salvation.' Mail on Sunday

The appeal of McCourt as a reader of his own memoirs (Angela's Ashes flourished commercially on audio, in both abridged and unabridged formats) lies in his ability to express a sustained sense of wonder at the world around him. Also, his brogue is classic, an Irish species unto itself. Here he takes up where he left off in his last book, arriving in America. He is first guided by an Irish bartender who tells him to go to the New York Public Library and read Samuel Johnson. Thus assimilated, he becomes a supply clerk for the army, stationed in postwar Germany, then a warehouse laborer living in a rooming house, before earning a college degree at NYU and settling down as a teacher at a rowdy vocational high school in Staten Island. Along the way come romance and immigrant's-eye life observations aplenty, and a growing sense of knowingness develops even as McCourt's hopes are dashed against disillusions. Simultaneous release with the Scribner hardcover. Also available unabridged and on CD. (Sept.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.