Product reviews

A wonderful inspiring read. I have read this book so many times it is like an old friend that I can turn to whenever I am in need of inspiration.

I thought it was brilliant! Rather than me harp on about how good it was read the synopsis, then go and read it!

Francie Nolan, avid reader, penny candy connoisseur and adroit observer of human nature, has much to ponder in colourful, turn-of-the-century Brooklyn. She grows up with a sweet, tragic father, a severely realistic mother and an aunt who gives her love too freely to men and a brother who will always be the favoured child. Francie learns early the meaning of hunger and the value of a penny. She is her father's child, romantic and hungry for beauty. But she is her mother's child, too deeply practical and in constant need of truth. Like the Tree of Heaven that grows out of cement or through cellar gratings, resourceful Francie struggles against all odds to survive and thrive. Betty Smith's poignant, honest novel created a big stir when it was first published more than 50 years ago. Her frank writing about life's squalor was alarming to some of the more genteel society, but the book's humour and pathos ensured its place in the realm of classics-and in the hearts of readers, young and old.