A PBS Great American Read Top 100 Pick
A beautifully designed Harper Perennial Deluxe Edition of the beloved
American classic about a young girl's coming-of-age at the turn of the
twentieth century.
From the moment she entered the world, Francie Nolan needed to be made
of stern stuff, for growing up in the Williamsburg slums of Brooklyn,
New York demanded fortitude, precocity, and strength of spirit. Often
scorned by neighbors for her family's erratic and eccentric
behavior--such as her father Johnny's taste for alcohol and Aunt Sissy's
habit of marrying serially without the formality of divorce--no one,
least of all Francie, could say that the Nolans' life lacked drama. By
turns overwhelming, heartbreaking, and uplifting, the Nolans' daily
experiences are raw with honestly and tenderly threaded with family
connectedness. Betty Smith has captured the joys of humble Williamsburg
life--from "junk day" on Saturdays, when the children traded their
weekly take for pennies, to the special excitement of holidays, bringing
cause for celebration and revelry. Smith has created a work of literary
art that brilliantly captures a unique time and place as well as deeply
resonant moments of universal experience. Here is an American classic
that "cuts right to the heart of life," hails the New York Times. "If
you miss A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, you will deny yourself a rich
experience."
The special edition includes French flaps, special cover effects, and
deckle-edged paper.
