The beloved American classic about a young girl's coming-of-age at the turn of the century, Betty Smith's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a poignant and moving tale filled with compassion and cruelty, laughter and heartache, crowded with life and people and incident. The story of young, sensitive, and idealistic Francie Nolan and her bittersweet formative years in the slums of Williamsburg has enchanted and inspired millions of readers for more than sixty years. By turns overwhelming, sublime, heartbreaking, and uplifting, the daily experiences of the unforgettable Nolans are raw with honesty and tenderly threaded with family connectedness -- in a work of literary art that brilliantly captures a unique time and place as well as incredibly rich moments of universal experience.
Born: Elisabeth Lillian Wehner, December 15, 1896, Brooklyn, New York, United States
Died: January 17, 1972, Shelton, Connecticut, United States
In her lifetime, Betty Smith penned and published a total of 4 best selling 20th Century novels ... **''A Tree Grows in Brooklyn'' (1943), ''Tomorrow Will Be Better'' (1947), ''Maggie-Now'' (1958), and ''Joy in the Morning'' (1963)**. Fairly soon after the publication of both ''A Tree Grows in Brooklyn'' & ''Joy in the Morning,'' they were then adapted to the 'big screen.'
What many of us were not aware of, however, is that for numerous decades prior to the penning and publication of these four, ***her only written novels,* Betty Smith was a well-known and respected play-write,** many plays of which she wrote with Robert (Bob) Finch, her 3rd and final husband. ***Below you will discover only a small few of her countless smash-hit plays.***
