<Tr> <Th> Media type </Th> <Td> Print (Hardcover and Paperback) </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Pages </Th> <Td> 493 p . </Td> </Tr> <P> A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a 1943 novel written by Betty Smith . The story focuses on an impoverished but aspirational, second - generation Irish - American, adolescent girl and her family in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York City, during the first two decades of the 20th century . The book was an immense success . </P> <P> The main metaphor of the book is the hardy Tree of Heaven, native to China . </P>

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