Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes (1996) won the Pulitzer Prize and made the Limerick of the 1930s and 1940s — wet, hungry, and unforgiving — known to readers worldwide. The book is not loved by everyone in the city, but its locations are easy to walk. The Roden Lane lanes of his childhood (now demolished) ran below today's Hartstonge Street; Leamy's National School, where he was a pupil, still stands on Hartstonge Street and now houses the Frank McCourt Museum (open by arrangement).
The museum displays photographs of pre-war Limerick, a recreated classroom, family memorabilia, and Frank's own copies of the manuscripts. A short, well-edited walking tour links the school, the South's pub on Quinlan Street where the McCourts drank, and St Joseph's Church on O'Connell Avenue where Frank served as an altar boy. About 90 minutes for the walk; check the museum hours in advance.