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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."

20世纪初的纽约布鲁克林，分散居住着来自世界各个国家的人，生活五彩斑斓。在这里，小说的主人公弗兰西?诺兰，一个爱尔兰—德国裔的小女孩，慢慢成长起来。她有一个普普通通的清贫的家庭。父亲性情温柔，多才多艺，深爱着女儿，却没有养家的能力。母亲性格坚强，精明现实，勤俭持家，却将大部分的爱倾注在弗兰西的弟弟身上。父母在社会底层的苦苦挣扎，让弗兰西从小就认识到了每一分钱的重要性，并和弟弟以稚弱的肩膀为这个家庭贡献自己的一份力量。生活虽然艰苦，但母亲所保持的那份尊严和知识改变命运的信念深深影响着弗兰西，让她在生活中始终抱有坚强、向上的生存意愿和奋斗的精神，并从书本中如饥似渴地汲取知识，几经周折，*终得以进入大学的校门。虽然要离开熟悉的故乡，但从小长到大生活其间的布鲁克林已经扎根在心里，永不会忘记。