Smith, Betty. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (New York: Harper Perennial, 1943, 2001) pp.493.
This book is a masterpiece of Americana, written in a heartwarming, humanistic manner. Notice that it first appeared in 1943, the best the author ever wrote, kindly and fittingly rescued from oblivion and published anew.
It is a tender tale of growing up in America, in Brooklyn, in the first decade of the 20th century. The life of a penurious but respectable family is narrated by Francie, the pre-teenage daughter whose understanding of herself and her family evolves during a five year span. A portrait of her beloved Irish father who would rather sing in pubs than hold a proper job is heart rending as it is earnest, as is her mother who devotedly and efficiently holds the family together even after the death of her husband.
Still, the centerpiece is Francie’s growing up into an independently-minded young woman. Early Brooklyn is also portrayed with affectionate detail, the candy seller, the local tavern, the local school, while New York City lies far away, an alien country across the river that barely enters the picture. In an afterword we learn that the novel is autobiographic.