______________________ 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.
