Betty Smith's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn captured the
imagination of readers in 1943. Now, over sixty years
since its publication, thousands of readers of A Tree
Grows in Brooklyn still enter its world and identify
with Francie Nolan, growing up in a tenement in
Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Betty Smith admitted that
Francie was herself and that her mother, father,
grandparents, aunts, and uncles were the inspiration for
the book's characters. Here, in the first published
biography of Betty Smith, their real-life stories are
told. The heroes in Smith's novels, all working-class
women-Francie in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, the office
worker Margy in Tomorrow Will Be Better, the housewife
Maggie in Maggie-Now, the aspiring writer Annie in Joy
in the Morning-become self-directed and confident. These
novels present an insider's view of a blue collar world,
of complex characters and psychological dynamics.
Smith's vision in her fiction was an unusual combination
of no-holds-barred realism and hope. Betty Smith: Life
of the Author of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, carefully
researched and precisely documented, is written in a
warm, conversational voice. This tale of three
cities-Brooklyn, Ann Arbor, and Chapel Hill-is wise,
funny, and at times sad, a life of a writer but also of
a daughter, lover, mother, and grandmother. AUTHOR
Valerie Raleigh Yow, a former history professor, is a
psychologist and playwright who lives in Chapel Hill,
North Carolina. She has authored several books,
including The History of Hera: A Woman's Art Cooperative
and Recording Oral History: A Guide for the Humanities
and Social Sciences, chosen by the American Library
Association for its list, "Outstanding Academic Titles
of 2006." Her first biography, Bernice Kelly Harris: A
Good Life Was Writing, was described as "a wonderful
biography that involves her reader in Harris's
life."-Florida Historical Quarterly. Growing up I read
and reread, and loved Betty Smith's A Tree Grows in
Brooklyn. I was Francie Nolan. Valerie Yow's biography
is like being there all over again. Beautifully written,
Francie and Betty live in every word. -Ruth Moose, poet
and short story writer; Rules and Secrets and other
books; professor, English Department, University of
North Carolina.
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