This is a story of Francie who grew up among the working poor in Brooklyn at the turn of the 19th century. Frequently hungry, with little heat, and patched clothes, we watch Francie come of age with her brother Neely, and later a little sister as well. Struggling to get an education, moving as they lose another place due to lack of funds, collecting pennies to have something to eat, Francie still wants to make something of herself, to find a way out, to read every book in the library. Life is hard and it's not fair but she learns from her mother that you still just keep going. And she does, even when it's not easy, even when her father dies, even when her mother sends her to work so her brother can keep getting his education. She just keeps putting one foot in front of the other with a good heart and a good head.
A soft, quiet book that just lays it out how this family lived at that time, in that place. Beautifully descriptive, it's easy to just fall into it and then have to come back out into your own reality after having been so deep into their's. I do understand why it's a classic and so many people read and reread it.
Page count: 493p/13,294p ytd/305,310p lifetime
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