Betty Smith wrote American fiction about working-class families, aspiration and the daily realities of growing up with limited money. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn follows Francie Nolan in early twentieth-century Williamsburg, Brooklyn, where reading, school, family loyalty and her father's drinking shape her childhood. The novel pays close attention to food, rent, jobs and neighbourhood routines, making material hardship part of the story rather than a background condition. Smith's later novels, including Joy in the Morning, also focus on young women, marriage and the effort to build a life with few resources. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is the defining Smith novel, especially where readers want working-class coming-of-age fiction built from school, family routines and the practical details of poverty. Read more Less
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