Betty Wehner Smiths unique ability to capture the reality of American society in the early nineteen hundreds is seen in the novel A Tree Grows in Brooklyn The setting of the novel stems very much from the authors own childhood Society can truly relate to this story as it has a place in every American familys roots The time defying novel evokes sympathy by telling the story of a young impoverished family comparing their rough lives to a relentless tree native to Brooklyn New York Betty Smith was