Tomorrow Will Be Better
by: Betty Smith
Margie, an ambitious young woman in 1920s Brooklyn, dreams of breaking free from her family's poverty and suffocating expectations. Her days feel repetitive until she boldly lands a job at a local business, a spark of hope that soon entangles her with Frankie, a kind but struggling neighbor.
Their whirlwind romance leads to marriage, but as the shine wears off, Margie juggles clashing ambitions and growing frustrations at home. Torn between her longing for a better life and the realities of love and family, she's forced to ask herself: can hope really outlast hardship?
Smith's warm, keen narrative captures every ache and quiet joy, immersing you in Margie's struggle and making you root for her tomorrow.
"Even in the smallest rooms and hardest days, hope threads its way through like sunlight beneath a closed door."
Let's Break This Down
The Author's Voice
Atmosphere
Gritty realism pulses through every page. Expect an immersive slice-of-life portrait of Brooklyn in the 1920s, where hope and hardship brush shoulders in cramped tenements. There's an underlying sense of longing mixed with the everyday grind—a melancholic, authentic vibe that's equal parts tender and raw. Smith's world feels lived-in, textured with details of poverty, bustling neighborhoods, and the small comforts people cling to in hard times.
Prose Style
Smith's writing is deceptively simple and heartbreakingly honest. Her sentences are straightforward but packed with emotional resonance and subtle wit. Dialogue sparkles with authenticity, perfectly capturing the cadence of working-class families. She never gets flashy—it's all about clear, unadorned storytelling that lets the characters and setting lead. Despite the realism, there's genuine warmth threaded through every paragraph, infusing the grit with hope.
Pacing
The rhythm here is deliberately measured—you get to soak in the everyday moments and gradual changes as characters stumble through big dreams and everyday challenges. Plot developments unfold organically, without any rush; there are stretches where not much happens besides life rolling along. This gives the narrative a steady, contemplative momentum, where the gradual growth of characters and the slow tightening of circumstances keep you invested without relying on explosive twists.
Dialogue and Character Voice
Smith’s dialogue is pitch-perfect: unfiltered, colloquial, and deeply grounded in time and place. Each character has a distinct rhythm to their speech, revealing class, background, and unspoken yearning. Conversations reveal as much in what’s held back as what’s said, with undercurrents of frustration, hope, and deep familial ties.
Tone and Mood
There’s a bittersweet, resilient spirit in every chapter—a mix of gentle nostalgia and stark honesty. The mood swings between moments of warmth, humor, and the sharp pangs of disappointment or fear. Even at its bleakest, there’s always a glimmer that tomorrow might, in fact, be better.
Imagery and Detail
Smith’s eye for detail is quietly cinematic. She’ll linger on small acts—a mother folding laundry, a hopeful glance out the window—to evoke an entire world. Sensory descriptions are modest but loaded with feeling, turning worn-down streets and humble apartments into vivid, emotionally charged backdrops.
Expect
A deeply empathetic, slow-burning narrative that prioritizes character over plot, emotion over spectacle, and authenticity over melodrama. If you love stories with heart, hope, and unvarnished truth—delivered with a graceful, understated touch—this style will absolutely speak to you.
Key Moments
- Frankie’s relentless hope colliding with Brooklyn’s crushing poverty—ouch, your heart
- That kitchen-table scene where dreams chip away at each spoonful of soup
- Moments of raw, awkward compassion between estranged mothers and daughters
- Betty Smith’s knack for turning bleak tenement life into something deeply human—honestly, you’ll smell the laundry
- Frankie chasing a “tomorrow” no one else believes in—and getting burned again (and again)
- Sharp, tight dialogue that makes everyday disappointment feel epic
- An unvarnished snapshot of ambition, survival, and yearning for more, even when “more” feels impossible
Plot Summary
Tomorrow Will Be Better follows Patty Bergen, a hopeful seventeen-year-old girl living in post-World War I Brooklyn, who dreams of escaping her family's harsh poverty and the constant bickering at home. Patty's journey unfolds as she seeks love, stability, and a sense of belonging, hoping marriage to the steady Johnny will be her ticket out. However, their union proves disillusioning, marked by financial hardship, emotional distance, and unfulfilled promises. As Patty realizes that marriage and adulthood bring their own set of challenges, she grapples with her deep desire for hope and change. The story culminates in Patty’s bittersweet acceptance that life may not improve overnight, but maintaining hope is essential, leaving her and the reader with a cautious optimism for the future.
Character Analysis
- Patty Bergen stands at the heart of the novel, initially depicted as innocent and optimistic despite her bleak surroundings. As she faces her mother's bitterness, her father's indifference, and the raw struggles of newlywed life, Patty matures—her innocence giving way to resilience and realistic hope. Johnny, Patty's husband, is emblematic of unfulfilled dreams: hardworking but unable to break free from the cycle of poverty, ultimately failing to provide the security Patty craves. Patty's mother is a key influence, portrayed as frustrated and emotionally distant, shaping Patty's hunger for love and hope. By the novel’s end, characters are deeply shaped by hardship but exhibit hard-won growth, learning to seek happiness amidst adversity.
Major Themes
- Endurance and Hope: The recurring message is the necessity of hope, even when immediate circumstances seem unchangeable. Patty’s persistent optimism, even after her marriage falters, highlights the strength needed to imagine a better future.
- Cycle of Poverty: Smith vividly depicts working-class Brooklyn, illustrating how poverty is not just financial but emotional, trapping families in stagnant patterns. The characters’ struggles underscore how dreams of upward mobility often clash with harsh realities.
- Family and Disillusionment: The novel explores familial relationships—especially the mother-daughter dynamic—and the ways in which expectations of family and marriage can lead to disappointment. For Patty, disillusionment ultimately matures her outlook without extinguishing her hope.
Literary Techniques & Style
- Betty Smith’s narrative style is direct, unsentimental, and deeply empathetic, using third-person limited narration to provide intimate access to Patty’s inner world. Symbolism abounds, particularly in the motif of windows and small luxuries, representing Patty’s longing for freedom and beauty. The Brooklyn setting is rendered with vivid detail, grounding the story in a palpable sense of place. Smith relies on simple yet powerful metaphors (like the concept of “tomorrow” itself) and uses dialogue to authentically capture class and generational divides.
Historical/Cultural Context
- Set in 1920s Brooklyn, the novel reflects the economic struggles and rigid gender roles of the era, shining a light on the constraints faced by working-class women. The backdrop of post-war disillusionment and the lingering effects of the Great Depression inform the characters’ bleak outlooks and limited opportunities. Social norms concerning marriage, domesticity, and socioeconomic aspiration shape every decision the characters make.
Critical Significance & Impact
- While often overshadowed by A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Tomorrow Will Be Better is celebrated for its raw and honest look at working-class life and the resilience of ordinary people, particularly women. Betty Smith’s empathetic portrayal of hope amidst hardship has resonated with generations, and the novel’s themes remain strikingly relevant for readers grappling with adversity today. Its influence endures in literature focused on female coming-of-age stories in urban America.
Hope battles hardship in a tender portrait of working-class dreams.
What Readers Are Saying
Right for You If
If you’re someone who loves stories about ordinary people facing real-life struggles and finding hope in tough times, Tomorrow Will Be Better is probably right up your alley. Fans of character-driven historical fiction—think books like A Tree Grows in Brooklyn or Angela’s Ashes—are going to appreciate the raw honesty and heartfelt moments in this one.
- You’ll especially vibe with this if you...
- Enjoy coming-of-age tales set in early 20th-century New York
- Like stories about working-class families, resilience, and chasing a better life
- Get totally drawn in by nuanced, flawed protagonists (Shirley, the main character, will tug at your heartstrings)
- Are all about books with emotional depth and subtle, everyday drama, rather than wild plot twists
Think of it as one of those reads that’s quietly powerful, where the small details really stick with you after you finish the last page.
On the flip side, if you need fast-paced action, shocking reveals, or a super tidy plot, you might find this book a bit slow. The pacing is gentle—some would say meandering—so if you tend to get restless with stories that focus more on feelings and less on cliffhangers, you might want to try something different.
Also, if you’re not a fan of bittersweet stories or find reading about hardship and poverty tough to stomach, this may not be the most uplifting pick for your current mood. But if you love rooting for underdogs and seeing small victories in tough circumstances, this one’s a gem.
In short: Lovers of heartfelt, authentic historical fiction—grab this! Thrill-seekers and folks after something breezy might want to keep looking.
What You're Getting Into
Set in a bustling Brooklyn neighborhood of the 1920s, Tomorrow Will Be Better follows young Margy Shannon as she navigates the hardships of poverty and dreams of carving out a brighter future for herself.
Torn between duty to her struggling family and her hope for a different life, Margy’s journey explores themes of resilience, ambition, and the longing for belonging.
Heartfelt, gritty, and surprisingly relatable, this novel captures the bittersweet rhythm of everyday struggles while offering a glimmer of hope that tomorrow truly could be better.
Characters You'll Meet
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Margy Shannon: The earnest, idealistic protagonist who longs to escape poverty and build a better life. Her emotional growth and perseverance shape the heart of the story.
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Paddy Shannon: Margy’s father, whose struggles with alcoholism and unrealized dreams add tension at home and underscore the family’s hardships.
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Agnes Shannon: Margy’s practical, often weary mother, tirelessly working to keep her family afloat while managing the realities of their working-class life.
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Frank Shannon: Margy’s troubled younger brother, whose actions reflect the challenges and pressures facing youth in harsh urban surroundings.
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Tommy: Margy’s childhood friend and eventual love interest, offering her both hope for the future and a mirror to her own ambitions.
More Like This
If you found yourself captivated by the tenacity and quiet heartbreak of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, you'll recognize a kindred spirit in Tomorrow Will Be Better. Betty Smith’s gift for rendering working-class neighborhoods, familial struggles, and the resilient dreams of young women rings just as true here, offering that same raw honesty and hopefulness amid hardship. Similarly, fans of Angela’s Ashes will feel right at home—the pervasive sense of yearning, the sharp detailing of poverty, and the intricate family bonds provide a vivid backdrop for exploring what it means to seek something more when the odds aren’t in your favor.
On the screen, Tomorrow Will Be Better echoes the gentle, bittersweet coming-of-age tapestry seen in Gilmore Girls. Both center on tough yet sensitive young women striving to carve out something brighter for themselves, set against a swirl of everyday disappointments, complicated family ties, and hopeful longings. There’s that same blend of warmth, wit, and realism, making Smith’s novel such a heartfelt journey for anyone who cherishes richly drawn characters chasing new beginnings.
Critic's Corner
How much hope can survive in a world grinding dreams to dust? Tomorrow Will Be Better dares us to believe in possibility, even as it brings us face to face with the bruising realities of poverty, family, and self-discovery. Betty Smith invites us into the cramped tenements and quiet aspirations of 1920s Brooklyn, asking: what does it cost to believe in a better future—and who pays that price?
If you've read Smith's work before, her craftsmanship here feels intimately familiar—every detail sharply observed, every street corner breathing with tumult and yearning. The prose is lucid and unpretentious, peppered with small, luminous moments: a gesture during dinner, sunlight slanting across kitchen linoleum, a sigh that says more than a paragraph could. Style-wise, Smith masterfully balances restraint and empathy, never succumbing to melodrama. Dialogue is especially sharp—characters speak as products of both their world and their wounds, grounding the novel in recognizable, lived-in authenticity.
Smith employs a third-person narration that often dips into Margie's consciousness, allowing us to experience the tension between her hope and her circumstance. The pacing is deliberate, echoing the slow march of real life—quiet crises, incremental victories, setbacks that sting because they feel true. Some readers may find the plot's quietness challenging, but it’s this very steadiness that builds emotional investment, culminating in a conclusion as ambiguous as real hope itself.
At the heart of the novel are themes as urgent now as a century ago: the daily grind of poverty, the yearning to transcend one's origin, and the weight of generational despair. Margie's optimism isn't naïveté—it's survival, an act of rebellion against the cycles grinding down her parents. Smith is unsparing in her depiction of working-class constraints, matriarchal suffocation, and the lure of romantic escape, but she never loses sight of dignity, even in squalor.
The story probes timeless questions: How much agency does a young woman possess in the face of economic and social expectation? Can love—however flawed—be enough to transform a life? The novel resonates today for its nuanced exploration of how hope is both a lifeline and a tormentor, especially for those whom society sidelines. In the age of ever-rising inequality, Margie's longing aches with contemporary relevance.
Within the American coming-of-age tradition, Tomorrow Will Be Better stands as a quieter, perhaps grittier cousin to A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. It eschews melodrama for realism, opting to portray working-class life not as tragedy but as a series of stubborn, incremental acts of defiance and hope. For readers of Elena Ferrante or Alice McDermott, Smith’s nuanced attention to the inner lives of ordinary women will feel both familiar and revelatory.
Is it perfect? Not quite. Occasionally, characters beyond Margie feel thin, and the novel’s measured pace may frustrate those craving dramatic turns. Yet, in centering hope amid hardship with deep craft and empathy, Smith crafts a novel that still matters—subtle, deeply affecting, and impossible to forget. Tomorrow Will Be Better doesn’t promise easy answers, but it gifts us the strength to keep asking hard questions.
Community Thoughts
Never thought I'd get so fixated on Margy, but here I am, totally obsessed. She lingered in my head for days, her decisions making me question everything. Seriously, I didn't expect to care this much!
I can’t stop thinking about Margy and that one scene on the rooftop, where hope and desperation tangled up so tightly it hurt. Smith’s writing burrowed into my head, and now I can’t shake the ache of her dreams.
Started reading for a cozy night in, but then Margy’s struggle with hope and disappointment took over my brain. Her longing for escape echoed so much I couldn’t sleep right after. This book lingers.
First of all, what was with Margy's mom? Her bitterness just clung to me for days after finishing. I kept replaying her harsh words in my head, like I knew her from somewhere. Can't shake that feeling.
I didn’t sleep at all after finishing this. Margy’s hope and grit crawled into my dreams and wouldn’t let go. Smith’s world feels so real it’s almost intrusive, honestly messed with my head for days.
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Local Take
Why It Matters
Wow, “Tomorrow Will Be Better” has some seriously relatable vibes here!
- Historical echoes: The struggle of working-class families in Betty Smith’s novel rings a bell with many here, especially given our history of rapid urbanization and shifting social structures (think long migration waves to cities, rising hopes for a better future).
- Cultural values: Smith’s focus on family loyalty, perseverance, and quiet resilience aligns strongly with our traditional emphasis on supporting one’s family and enduring hardship together. Her characters’ pursuit of stability mirrors our own stories—ambition, but always tied to family.
- Plot points that land differently: The limitations placed on women in Smith’s 1920s Brooklyn feel extra poignant in our context, as ongoing gender expectations and generational clashes still spark debate here.
- Literary traditions: Smith’s realistic, heartfelt storytelling echoes our love for honest, character-driven tales, but her stark dives into dysfunction might challenge readers used to more optimistic, redemptive endings.
All in all, this novel feels both warmly familiar and a bit provocative—like a mirror that’s not afraid to show every spot and wrinkle.
Food for Thought
Notable Achievement:
Tomorrow Will Be Better by Betty Smith, published in 1948, stands out as a touching exploration of working-class life in Brooklyn, continuing the empathetic storytelling that made A Tree Grows in Brooklyn a classic. While it didn’t reach the same blockbuster status as Smith’s debut, the novel solidified her reputation as a champion of women’s voices and immigrant struggles, resonating with readers seeking heartfelt, true-to-life depictions of striving for a brighter future.
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