A PBS Great American Read Top 100 Pick
The beloved American classic about a young girl’s coming-of-age at the turn of the twentieth century.
From the moment she entered the world, Francie Nolan needed to be made of stern stuff, for the often harsh life of Williamsburg demanded fortitude, precocity, and strength of spirit. Often scorned by neighbors for her family’s erratic and eccentric … spirit. Often scorned by neighbors for her family’s erratic and eccentric behavior—such as her father Johnny’s taste for alcohol and Aunt Sissy’s habit of marrying serially without the formality of divorce—no one, least of all Francie, could say that the Nolans’ life lacked drama. By turns overwhelming, sublime, heartbreaking, and uplifting, the Nolans’ daily experiences are tenderly threaded with family connectedness and raw with honesty. Betty Smith has, in the pages of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, captured the joys of humble Williamsburg life-from “junk day” on Saturdays, when the children of Francie’s neighborhood traded their weekly take for pennies, to the special excitement of holidays, bringing cause for celebration and revelry. Betty Smith has artfully caught this sense of exciting life in a novel of childhood, replete with incredibly rich moments of universal experiences—a truly remarkable achievement for any writer.
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This is one of those classics that you know you should have read years ago, but never seem to pick up. After my boyfriend read it last week, I decided to suck it up and dive in – and boy was it worth it.
This is the story of a girl, Francie Nolan, growing up in Brooklyn slums in the early 20th century. The book spends a lot of time with her …
A beautiful look at the world of immigrant families in New York, told through the eyes of a girl as she grows to adulthood. Full of the personal realities we rarely see in other people’s experiences.
Amazingly, I’d never read this classic. What a delight! It’s full of honest wisdom and very relevant to today’s world with its themes of ethnic prejudice, class inequality, and feminism. I found myself forgetting that it was set in pre-WWI New York.
A great classic, a story of hope
This book is just so cozy. You really come to love the whole family
One of my all time favorite books. Timeless.
I first got interested in this book after I had seen the movie in the early 70s. I purchased a copy of the book in a Penn Station bookstore, and thus began a lifelong love of Betty Smith’s novel.
I’ve read it many times and have been through 3 paperback copies, and now have an e-book version.
I began to teach in a Brooklyn school not far from …
A true classic that I thoroughly enjoyed. This is semi-autobiographical. Do not miss!
I thought this book would be one of my favorite. It has relate-able characters and tragedies. I couldn’t put it down.
The story follows an immigrant family that makes its way in the world in Brooklyn, NY. It’s a series of vignettes told from multiple points of view — the mother, the father, grandparents, and most importantly from a young girl who grows up and comes of age as the story of the family progresses through the run-up to the First World War and beyond. …
I have read this book twice. Great book.
It’s a book I wish I had read sooner. It’s a keeper to be read again.
Really enjoyed Really enjoyed it!
I couldn’t get through the first few chapters.
Wonderful
Loved this book. very interesting portrayal of poverty in Brooklyn in the 1910s. narrative is sympathetic without being maudlin.
A heart-breaking saga of the lives of the poor in the early 20th century and the strength and character of loving families enduring the hardships.
Great book have read it 5 times in the past 50 years. Love it
I think it gives a realistic look at another era in American life.
Everyone has to read this story at least once if not more!