Betty Smith enchanted a generation of readers with 'A Tree Grows in Brooklyn' − even as she groused that she hoped Williamsburg would be flattened
Eighty years ago, in the winter and spring of 1944, Brooklyn-born author Betty Smith was entering a new chapter of life. A year earlier, she was an unknown writer, negotiating with her publisher about manuscript edits and the date of publication for her first book, “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn,” …