Maggie-Now [Paperback]

Betty Smith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1966

Maggie-Now grew up in Brooklyn, with the green young century, among the immigrant Irish and Germans. She was a strong woman who gave of herself. All her life men leaned on her for support: at first, her widower father and her wild younger brother; then her husband, the strange and beguiling Claude. Maggie-Now is a memorable novel off a woman's life - her disappointments, her triumphs, her family, her friends - which Betty Smith has written with the warmth and sensitivity that have drawn millions of readers to her work.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Harpercollins; Revised edition (June 1966)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060800984
• ISBN-13: 978-0060800987
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,898,041 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Betty Smith was born Elisabeth Wehner on December 15, 1896, the same date as, although five years earlier than, her fictional heroine Francie Nolan. The daughter of German immigrants, she grew up poor in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, the very world she recreates with such meticulous detail in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Smith also wrote other novels and had a long career as a dramatist, writing one-act and full-length plays for which she received both the Rockefeller Fellowship and the Dramatists Guild Fellowship. She died in 1972.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite Betty Smith novel, May 12, 2009

By 

Elaine V. Teeter - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Maggie Now (Hardcover)

This is not only my favorite Betty Smith book, it is my all-time best loved book. The story starts with Patrick Dennis Moore, a handsome, spoiled young Irishman as he goes to Brooklyn, New York to start a new life, leaving his one true love behind in his small village of Kilkenny. In Brooklyn, he marries a sweet girl and they have a daughter called Maggie-Now. I wish I could convey the richness and warm humanity of the characters in this sweeping story, which folows the lives of these characters over many years. There is tenderness, sadness and humor; after you finish this book, the characters will linger in your mind. The story of Maggie-Now is not as sad as in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, also written by Betty Smith, nor do the main characters live in such grinding poverty. They are such real, endearing people, I wish I knew them. A wonderful story you will enjoy reading over and over.

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Decidedly mixed reviews, December 15, 1999

By 

Emily B. (Connecticut, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Maggie-Now (Paperback)

With some difficulty, I did obtain a 1958 hardcover copy of Maggie-Now from one of Amazon's competitors. Readers will react differently to this novel, depending on their perspective and what they want from this book. After reading Tree, I ordered and read all of Betty Smith's books because I became interested in her style, which I find sharply realistic and yet by no means depressing. There is a reason why only two of her novels, Tree and Joy are still in print, while Maggie-Now and Tomorrow Will Be Better are not, and it is not due to a difference in quality. Tree and Joy follow intelligent and spirited young people through their growing years, as they devote honest, hard work to creating richer, more meaningful lives. These stories end in success and appeal to a broad range of readers.

Maggie-Now and Tomorrow Will Be Better, however, are about simple, honest, and hard-working folk who do not have any particular intelligence or talent to distinguish them. They are in essence going nowhere. They are ordinary. And as such, they will appeal not to ordinary folk, but to those who want to know more about ordinary folk--that is, to unusual characters like Claude, who do not know what it means to be ordinary.

In sum, if you're looking for another success story like Tree, don't bother reading this one. If you have other reasons for wanting this novel, give it a try. And if you do, kindly share your opinion with us.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Heartwarming story., December 10, 1999

By 

cassandraandvixen (NH, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Maggie Now (Hardcover)

This book begins its story before Maggie Now's birth. It introduces her contrary father, Patrick, as a young man in Ireland and her gentle mother, Mary, as a school teacher in New York at the turn of the century. They meet in New York after Patrick flees Ireland and comes to America to work for Mary's father. Maggie Now grows up attending Catholic school, rearing her younger brother and yearning for love and a family of her own. I found many of the passages in the book touching, particularly the description of the Easter dinner which she cooks for Claude, whom she falls in love with. I revisit this book every year and will continue to do so for a long time. I actually prefer this book to A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. It is not as detailed but is a much warmer, simpler story without the terrible poverty which overwhelms A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.