A timeless classic is reborn! From Betty Smith – author of *A Tree Grows in Brooklyn* , one of the most beloved novels of the past century – comes an unsentimental yet radiant and powerfully uplifting tale of young hearts and marriage. In 1927, in Brooklyn, New York, Carl Brown and Annie McGairy meet and fall in love. Though only eighteen, Annie travels alone halfway across the country to the Midwestern university where Carl is studying law – and there they marry. But their first year together is much more difficult than they anticipated, in a faraway place with little money and few friends. With hardship and poverty weighing heavily upon them, Annie and Carl come to realize that their greatest sources of strength, loyalty and love, will help them make it through. * **A more dauntless heroine or a more appealing one has not turned up in a current novel in years** – New York Times*