A Tree Grows In Brooklyn - Softcover

Smith, Betty

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0099427575 ISBN 13: 9780099427575

Publisher: Arrow, 1992

Synopsis

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NOW CELEBRATING ITS 75th ANNIVERSARY

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.

About this title

Review:

Francie Nolan, avid reader, penny candy connoisseur and adroit observer of human nature, has much to ponder in colourful, turn-of-the-century Brooklyn. She grows up with a sweet, tragic father, a severely realistic mother and an aunt who gives her love too freely--to men and a brother who will always be the favoured child. Francie learns early the meaning of hunger and the value of a penny. She is her father's child--romantic and hungry for beauty. But she is her mother's child, too--deeply practical and in constant need of truth. Like the Tree of Heaven that grows out of cement or through cellar gratings, resourceful Francie struggles against all odds to survive and thrive. Betty Smith's poignant, honest novel created a big stir when it was first published more than 50 years ago. Her frank writing about life's squalor was alarming to some of the more genteel society, but the book's humour and pathos ensured its place in the realm of classics--and in the hearts of readers, young and old. (Ages 10 and up) --Emilie Coulter, Amazon.com

Review:

"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)

"This story radiates life." (Daily Telegraph)

"One of the books of the century" (New York Public Library)

About this edition

• Publisher: Arrow
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 0099427575
• ISBN 13: 9780099427575
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 496