In 1920's Brooklyn, Margie graduates from highschool and is filled with youthful optimism. Determined to rise above the drudgery and poverty of her upbringing, Margie finds a job at a small business nearby and attempts to escape her overbearing mother and her overworked,disillusioned father.
Before long, she meets Frankie Malone, a poor Brooklynite like herself, and the two fall headlong into courtship and marriage. Despite differences between her and Frankie, and some difficulties in her relationship with her parents, Margie still hopes that "tomorrow will be better."
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Betty Smith (AKA Sophina Elisabeth Wehner): Born- December 15, 1896; Died- January 17, 1972
Born in Brooklyn, New York to German immigrants, she grew up poor in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. These experiences served as the framework to her first novel, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1943).
After marrying George H. E. Smith, a fellow Brooklynite, she moved with him to Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he pursued a law degree at the University of Michigan. At this time, she gave birth to two girls and waited until they were in school so she could complete her higher education. Although Smith had not finished high school, the university allowed her to enroll in classes. There she honed her skills in journalism, literature, writing, and drama, winning a prestigious Hopwood Award. She was a student in the classes of Professor Kenneth Thorpe Rowe.
In 1938 she divorced her husband and moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina. There she married Joseph Jones in 1943, the same year in which A Tree Grows in Brooklyn was published. She teamed with George Abbott to write the book for the 1951 musical adaptation of the same name. Throughout her life, Smith worked as a dramatist, receiving many awards and fellowships including the Rockefeller Fellowship and the Dramatists Guild Fellowship for her work in drama. Her other novels include Tomorrow Will Be Better (1947), Maggie-Now (1958) and Joy in the Morning (1963).