Born in 1896, writer Betty Smith (pictured above) has always been best known for her first novel, A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, published in 1943. Indeed, a lot of people only vaguely familiar with the author probably think that she was a one-novel wonder, like Margaret Mitchell or Harper Lee (for most of her life, anyway). In fact, Smith wrote four novels, all of them commercially successful. In 1947, she followed up A Tree Grows In Brooklyn with Tomorrow Will Be Better. Eleven years later, in 1958 (the year of my birth), her third novel, Maggie-Now, was published. Her final novel, Joy in the Morning, was published in 1963. Joy in the Morning is a sort of unofficial sequel to A Tree Grows In Brooklyn. The heroine’s name has been changed from Francie to Annie, but otherwise the protagonists of the two books are fairly similar. At the end of Brooklyn, Francie is 17 and on her way to college along with her boyfriend Ben. At the beginning of Joy, Annie is 18 years old and freshly arrived at college with her boyfriend (soon to be husband) Carl.
BETTY SMITH WAS NOT A ONE-BOOK WONDER
BETTY SMITH WAS NOT A ONE-BOOK WONDER
BETTY SMITH WAS NOT A ONE-BOOK WONDER
Born in 1896, writer Betty Smith (pictured above) has always been best known for her first novel, A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, published in 1943. Indeed, a lot of people only vaguely familiar with the author probably think that she was a one-novel wonder, like Margaret Mitchell or Harper Lee (for most of her life, anyway). In fact, Smith wrote four novels, all of them commercially successful. In 1947, she followed up A Tree Grows In Brooklyn with Tomorrow Will Be Better. Eleven years later, in 1958 (the year of my birth), her third novel, Maggie-Now, was published. Her final novel, Joy in the Morning, was published in 1963. Joy in the Morning is a sort of unofficial sequel to A Tree Grows In Brooklyn. The heroine’s name has been changed from Francie to Annie, but otherwise the protagonists of the two books are fairly similar. At the end of Brooklyn, Francie is 17 and on her way to college along with her boyfriend Ben. At the beginning of Joy, Annie is 18 years old and freshly arrived at college with her boyfriend (soon to be husband) Carl.