Tomorrow Will Be Better

Author: Betty Smith
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0062988697
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 311

Book Description
"A rediscovered treasure." — Maureen Corrigan, Washington Post From Betty Smith, author of the beloved classic A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, comes a poignant story of love, marriage, poverty, and hope set in 1920s Brooklyn. Tomorrow Will Be Better tells the story of Margy Shannon, a shy but joyfully optimistic young woman just out of school who lives with her parents and witnesses how a lifetime of hard work, poverty, and pain has worn them down. Her mother's resentment toward being a housewife and her father's inability to express his emotions result in a tense home life where Margy has no voice. Unable to speak up against her overbearing mother, Margy takes refuge in her dreams of a better life. Her goals are simple—to find a husband, have children, and live in a nice home—one where her children will never know the terror of want or the need to hide from quarreling parents. When she meets Frankie Malone, she thinks her dreams might be fulfilled, but a devastating loss rattles her to her core and challenges her life-long optimism. As she struggles to come to terms with the unexpected path her life has taken, Margy must decide whether to accept things as they are or move firmly in the direction of what she truly wants. Rich with the flavor of its Brooklyn background, and filled with the joys and heartbreak of family life, Tomorrow Will Be Better is told with a simplicity, tenderness, and warmhearted humor that only Betty Smith could write.

Betty Smith: Life of the Author of a Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Author: Valerie Raleigh Yow
Publisher: Independent Author
ISBN: 9780982720707
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 444

Book Description
Smith's "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" captured the imagination of readers in 1943. In the first published biography of Smith, the real-life stories behind the heroes in her novel are told.

When Books Went to War

Author: Molly Guptill Manning
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 0544535170
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 315

Book Description
This New York Times bestselling account of books parachuted to soldiers during WWII is a “cultural history that does much to explain modern America” (USA Today). When America entered World War II in 1941, we faced an enemy that had banned and burned 100 million books. Outraged librarians launched a campaign to send free books to American troops, gathering 20 million hardcover donations. Two years later, the War Department and the publishing industry stepped in with an extraordinary program: 120 million specially printed paperbacks designed for troops to carry in their pockets and rucksacks in every theater of war. These small, lightweight Armed Services Editions were beloved by the troops and are still fondly remembered today. Soldiers read them while waiting to land at Normandy, in hellish trenches in the midst of battles in the Pacific, in field hospitals, and on long bombing flights. This pioneering project not only listed soldiers’ spirits, but also helped rescue The Great Gatsby from obscurity and made Betty Smith, author of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, into a national icon. “A thoroughly engaging, enlightening, and often uplifting account . . . I was enthralled and moved.” — Tim O’Brien, author of The Things They Carried “Whether or not you’re a book lover, you’ll be moved.” — Entertainment Weekly

Joy in the Morning

Author: Betty Smith
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0062988638
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 364

Book Description
From Betty Smith, author of the beloved American classic A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, comes an unsentimental yet radiant and powerfully uplifting tale of young love and marriage. In 1927, in Brooklyn, New York, Carl Brown and Annie McGairy meet and fall in love. Though only eighteen, Annie travels alone halfway across the country to the Midwestern university where Carl is studying law—and there they marry. But Carl and Annie’s first year together is much more difficult than they anticipated as they find themselves in a faraway place with little money and few friends. With hardship and poverty weighing heavily upon them, they come to realize that their greatest sources of strength, loyalty, and love, will help them make it through. A moving and unforgettable story, Joy in the Morning is “a glad affirmation that love can accomplish the impossible.” (Chicago Tribune)

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Author: Betty Smith
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0061803022
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 532

Book Description
A PBS Great American Read Top 100 Pick 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 the often harsh life of Williamsburg 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, sublime, heartbreaking, and uplifting, the Nolans’ daily experiences are tenderly threaded with family connectedness and raw with honesty. Betty Smith has, in the pages of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, captured the joys of humble Williamsburg life-from “junk day” on Saturdays, when the children of Francie’s neighborhood traded their weekly take for pennies, to the special excitement of holidays, bringing cause for celebration and revelry. Betty Smith has artfully caught this sense of exciting life in a novel of childhood, replete with incredibly rich moments of universal experiences—a truly remarkable achievement for any writer.

Soar

Author: Joan Bauer
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0698159942
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 306

Book Description
Newbery Honor–winner Joan Bauer's newest protagonist always sees the positive side of any situation—and readers will cheer him on! Jeremiah is the world’s biggest baseball fan. He really loves baseball and he knows just about everything there is to know about his favorite sport. So when he’s told he can’t play baseball following an operation on his heart, Jeremiah decides he’ll do the next best thing and become a coach. Hillcrest, where Jeremiah and his father Walt have just moved, is a town known for its championship baseball team. But Jeremiah finds the town caught up in a scandal and about ready to give up on baseball. It’s up to Jeremiah and his can-do spirit to get the town – and the team – back in the game. Full of humor, heart, and baseball lore, Soar is Joan Bauer at her best.

All the Things We Do in the Dark

Author: Saundra Mitchell
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0062852612
Category : Young Adult Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 263

Book Description
Sadie meets Girl in Pieces in this dark, emotional thriller by acclaimed author Saundra Mitchell. Something happened to Ava. The curving scar on her face is proof. Ava would rather keep that something hidden—buried deep in her heart and her soul. But in the woods on the outskirts of town, the traces of someone else’s secrets lie frozen, awaiting Ava’s discovery—and what Ava finds threatens to topple the carefully constructed wall of normalcy that she’s spent years building around her. Secrets leave scars. But when the secret in question is not your own—do you ignore the truth and walk away? Or do you uncover it from its shallow grave and let it reopen old wounds—wounds that have finally begun to heal?

The Clancys of Queens

Author: Tara Clancy
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group (NY)
ISBN: 1101903112
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 258

Book Description
Clancy's memoir "is not merely an authentic coming-of-age tale or a rowdy barstool biography. Chockfull of characters who escape the popular imaginings of this city, it offers a bold portrait of real people, people whose stories are largely absent from our shelves. Most crucially, it captures ... rarely-heard voices of New York's working-class women"--Amazon.com.

The Moonflower Vine

Author: Jetta Carleton
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 352

Book Description

A Study Guide for Betty Smith's "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn"

Author: Gale, Cengage Learning
Publisher: Gale, Cengage Learning
ISBN: 1410361128
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 41

Book Description
A Study Guide for Betty Smith's "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Novels for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Novels for Students for all of your research needs.