Books like A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith reads as warm, immersive. These 12 books share its genome — matched by how they actually read, not just their shelf label.

One of Ours

Willa Cather · 2022

Shares the escape + history thread

73% genome match

Dominicana

Angie Cruz · 2020

Shares the escape + comingofage thread

71% genome match

The Grapes of Wrath

John Steinbeck · 1939

Shares the escape + vvoice thread

83% genome match

The Reivers

William Faulkner

Shares the comingofage + vvoice thread

69% genome match

World's Fair

E. L. Doctorow · 1985

Shares the escape + history thread

71% genome match

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter

Erika L. Sánchez

Shares the escape + comingofage thread

69% genome match

Demon Copperhead

Barbara Kingsolver · 2022

Shares the escape + history thread

83% genome match

Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha

Roddy Doyle

Shares the escape + comingofage thread

69% genome match

Summer Sisters

Judy Blume · 1998

Shares the escape + comingofage thread

69% genome match

Tyrell

Coe Booth · 2007

Shares the escape + comingofage thread

73% genome match

It's Like This, Cat

Emily Cheney Neville · 1992

Shares the escape + comingofage thread

77% genome match

The Magicians

Lev Grossman · 2009

Shares the escape + comingofage thread

69% genome match