Betty Smith's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn captured the imagination of readers in 1943. Now, over sixty years since its publication, readers still enter its world and identify with Francie Nolan, growing up in a tenement in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Betty Smith admitted that Francie was herself and that her mother, father, grandparents, aunts, and uncles were the inspiration for the book's characters. In this biography, their real-life stories are told. The heroes in Smith's novels, all working-class women, become self-directed and confident. These novels present an insider's view of a blue collar world, of complex characters and psychological dynamics. Smith's vision in her fiction was an unusual combination of no-holds-barred realism and hope. This tale of three cities-Brooklyn, Ann Arbor, and Chapel Hill-is also the story of a daughter, lover, mother, and grandmother.