Betty Smith A Tree Grows in Brooklyn review and information about the 1943 American novel. In 1943, American author Betty Smith’s novel was published. Here you can read information about the novel’s content, reception, reviews and author.
Betty Smith A Tree Grows in Brooklyn reviews
- “A profoundly moving novel, and an honest and true one. It cuts right to the heart of life … If you miss A Tree Grows in Brooklyn you will deny yourself a rich experience… It is a poignant and deeply understanding story of childhood and family relationships.” (New York Times)
- “One of the books of the century.” (New York Public Library)
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
- Author: Betty Smith (United States)
- Book type: 1943 American novel
- Publisher: Vintage Classics
- Length: 272 pages
- Format: paperback / ebook
- Prize: £ 9.99
- Editorial Rating: ∗∗∗∗∗ (excellent)
- Order book from: Amazon / Bol
Blurb of the 1943 novel by Betty Smith
Betty Smith’s debut novel is universally regarded as a modern classic. The sprawling tale of an immigrant family in early 20th-century Brooklyn, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is one of the great distinctively American novels.
The Nolan family are first-generation immigrants to the United States. Originating in Ireland and Austria, their life in the Williamsburg slums of Brooklyn is poor and deprived, but their sacrifices make it possible for their children to grow up in a land of boundless opportunity.
Francie Nolan is the eldest daughter of the family. Alert, imaginative and resourceful, her journey through the first years of a century of profound change is difficult – and transformative. But amid the poverty and suffering among the poor of Brooklyn, there is hope, and the prospect of a brighter future.
Betty Smith was born December 15, 1896 in Brooklyn. New York 
City as Elisabeth Lillian Wehner. She published four novels: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1943), Tomorrow Will Be Better (1947), Maggie-Now (1958) and, Joy in the Morning (1963). She also wrote two plays: Jonica Stars (1930) and Becomes A Woman, originally titled Francie Nolan (1931). She died in died of pneumonia in Shelton, Connecticut on January 17, 1972 in Shelton, Connecticut, at the age of 75.