A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
A young girl grows up in a poor but fiercely passionate family in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
Where A Tree Grows in Brooklyn keeps showing up
Three of our editors' lists feature this novel.
Books in conversation with A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
A few of the closest reads from our full list.
What you might want to know about A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
Francie Nolan grows up poor and dreaming in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in the early 1900s, with a beloved drunkard father, a steel-spined mother, and a quiet determination to make something of her life.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is fiction but heavily autobiographical. Betty Smith drew extensively on her own childhood in early 20th-century Williamsburg, Brooklyn for the setting, characters, and family dynamics.
Published in 1943, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is considered one of the great American coming-of-age novels. Its portrait of a poor Irish-American family and the resilient girl at its center has resonated with generations of readers.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn was written by Betty Smith, published in 1943 by Pan.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is 443 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn takes most readers 7 to 10 hours to finish.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a standalone novel by Betty Smith, not part of a series.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.