Tis

''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 from 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

Frank McCourt is the author of the Pulitzer Prize winning and best-selling Angelas 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.