And who educated him and saved his life?
He autographed a copy that I dedicated to my Irish grandparents.I said that the his writing reminded me of
my favorite author.I said that I hoped he didn’t mind being
compared to an Englishman-Charles Dickens.He just laughed
and said in that case no.
His family (just the mom and kids) were starving to death in Ireland and emigrated, I think they left the drunk dad behind - been many years since I read the book. He pulled himself up by his bootstraps, got an education and did very well for himself.
In the article, it says he stole bread and milk to survive, and a public college accepted him in spite of his meager education to that point.