A Tree Grows In Brooklyn

Nov 10, 2025 6:32 AM

Author:Betty Smith

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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.

Reviews

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

Books like this one succeed...in drawing our emotions into politics. What will remain is the plain bravery of his characters...their struggle has found an honest chronicler

—— Daily Telegraph

Andre Brink's writing is built on conviction...A Dry White Season describes the triumph of tyranny

—— The Times

Exuberant... for those who like their wines full-bodied and their meals rich and zesty... earthly secrets of strength, suffering, passion and cooking in a humorous and well-drawn portrait of a woman who loves as well as she cooks

—— Washington Post

Subverts macho morality with refreshingly unexpected narrative twists magical realism... pacing that rivals Romancing the Stone

—— Maureen Freely

An enchanting book, an open-eyed fairy story

—— Barbara Trapido

Wonderful... hard to put down... it is rare to come across a book so unusual

—— Steve Vines , South China Morning Post

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