A lightly fictionalized memoir, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is Betty Smith’s story of growing up in the slums of Brooklyn in the early 1900s.  Her mother’s family are German immigrants, her father’s family are Irish immigrants, and both sides are poor and lacking formal education.  When her mother, Katie, is 18, she marries her charming musician boyfriend, Johnny Nolan.  Their firstborn, Betty’s stand-in Francie Nolan, arrives less than a year later and is followed quickly by a son, Cornelius called Neely.  Johnny is a […]