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Betty Smith

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Betty Smith


Born
in Brooklyn, NY, The United States
December 15, 1896

Died
January 17, 1972

Genre
Literature & Fiction


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 al ...more

Combine Editions

Average rating: 4.29 · 543,736 ratings · 36,551 reviews · 24 distinct works • Similar authors
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
4.30 avg rating — 524,811 ratings — published 1943 — 391 editions
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Joy in the Morning
3.94 avg rating — 9,214 ratings — published 1963 — 8 editions
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Tomorrow Will Be Better
3.93 avg rating — 4,999 ratings — published 1948 — 55 editions
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Maggie-Now
3.93 avg rating — 2,942 ratings — published 1958 — 35 editions
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A Tree Grows in Brooklyn & ...
4.41 avg rating — 1,357 ratings — 10 editions
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Det växte ett träd i Brookl...
3.57 avg rating — 252 ratings — published 1943 — 4 editions
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Det växte ett träd i Brookl...
3.97 avg rating — 147 ratings — 4 editions
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Captive Heart
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3.25 avg rating — 8 ratings — published 2014 — 2 editions
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The Complete Novels of Bett...
4.25 avg rating — 4 ratings
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ΕΝΑ ΔΕΝΤΡΟ ΜΕΓΑΛΩΝΕΙ ΣΤΟ ΜΠ...
it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating
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More books by Betty Smith…

Related News

Susan Orlean, the author of The Orchid Thief: A True Story of Beauty and Obsession and staff writer for The New Yorker, is back on bookshelves...
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81 likes · 13 comments
Quotes by Betty Smith  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“The world was hers for the reading.”
― Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
tags: books, feminist, reading
4155 likes
Like

“Dear God," she prayed, "let me be something every minute of every hour of my life. Let me be gay; let me be sad. Let me be cold; let me be warm. Let me be hungry...have too much to eat. Let me be ragged or well dressed. Let me be sincere - be deceitful. Let me be truthful; let me be a liar. Let me be honorable and let me sin. Only let me be something every blessed minute. And when I sleep, let me dream all the time so that not one little piece of living is ever lost.”
― Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
tags: growing-up, inspirational, life
2187 likes
Like

“I know that's what people say-- you'll get over it. I'd say it, too. But I know it's not true. Oh, youll be happy again, never fear. But you won't forget. Every time you fall in love it will be because something in the man reminds you of him.”
― Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
tags: happiness, lost-love, love
2126 likes
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Polls

June 2016 Revisit the Shelf Reread

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco, 536 pages, 1980
 
  31 votes, 14.2%

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen, 251 pages, 1817
 
  23 votes, 10.5%

 
  21 votes, 9.6%

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, 311 pages, 1985
 
  21 votes, 9.6%

 
  19 votes, 8.7%

 
  18 votes, 8.2%

 
  18 votes, 8.2%

 
  13 votes, 5.9%

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, 192 pages, 1962
 
  13 votes, 5.9%

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins, 672 pages, 1860
 
  11 votes, 5.0%

 
  10 votes, 4.6%

East of Eden by John Steinbeck, 601 pages, 1952
 
  10 votes, 4.6%

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens, 554 pages, 1838
 
  7 votes, 3.2%

The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk, 560 pages, 1951
 
  4 votes, 1.8%

219 total votes
More...

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