Summary

Chapter 3. The McCourts move from their tiny one-room flat on Harstonge Street to a two-story house on Roden Lane. But they soon learn 11 families living on their street dump their bathroom waste into a lavatory directly next to the McCourts’ home.

Because the family has lost two children in Ireland, their unemployment insurance is reduced by the Labour Exchange to 16 shillings a week, which will barely be enough to live on. Malachy looks for work in farms in the country, but uses his wages to drink.

Just before the Christmas holidays, the first floor of the family’s home becomes flooded and all the furniture and their belongings must be moved upstairs. Angela and Malachy joke with the children about it, calling the first floor “Ireland” and the top floor “Italy.”

In a stark scene, Frank and young Malachy accompany their mother to the butcher...