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A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Betty Smith
1943, 544 pages
Fiction
If you haven’t read last month’s book club selection, now is the perfect time!
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, originally published in 1943, is a poignant coming-of-age story that has deservedly entered the canon as an American classic. Visit the slums of Brooklyn as the impoverished Nolans struggle to feed, clothe and educate their precocious 11-year-old daughter, Francie, and her young brother. Francie’s spare and quiet voice leads the narration, and her observant nature offers the reader a bleak and uncompromising view of Brooklyn in the 1910s, at a time when immigrants of every background crowded uncomfortably into the borough.
This remarkable story perfectly captures the innocence and idealism of childhood, as Francie alone is able to see through her neighborhood’s collective filth and shame to glimpse the estimable people who inhabit it. Encompassing Smith’s simple and descriptive language and an outstanding cast of characters, this is a story you won’t soon forget.
