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  • This is a lovely, poignant Depression-era coming-of-age story of Francie Nolan. Smith's writing is elegant and evocative. It does not the innocence of an L.M. Montgomery novel, however, the story is told tenderly and truthfully. Life, warts and all.

    A fine, simple story, well-deserving of its ... Continue

    This is a lovely, poignant Depression-era coming-of-age story of Francie Nolan. Smith's writing is elegant and evocative. It does not the innocence of an L.M. Montgomery novel, however, the story is told tenderly and truthfully. Life, warts and all.

    A fine, simple story, well-deserving of its categorization as a classic.

    

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• ― guaddess said on Oct 20, 2007 about the Paperback edition| Add your feedback

A moving coming-of-age story set in the 1900's, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn follows the lives of 11-year-old Francie Nolan, her younger brother Neely, and their parents, Irish immigrants who have settled in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. Johnny Nolan is as loving and fanciful as they come, but he is also often drunk and out of work, unable to find his place in the land of opportunity. His wife Katie scrubs floors to put food on the table and clothes on her childrens' backs, instilling in them the values of being practical and planning ahead.

When Johnny dies, leaving Katie pregnant, Francie, smart, pensive and hoping for something better, cannot believe that life can carry on as before. But with her own determination, and that of her mother behind her, Francie is able to move toward the future of her dreams, completing her education and heading oft to college, always carrying the beloved Brooklyn of her childhood in her heart.

• 1943new yorkalcoholismmade into moviemarriagepovertyclassicscoming of agedomestic fictioneducation
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