Mary Frances Nolan (Francie) Timeline and Summary

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• Francie is eleven years old and living in tenement housing in Williamsburg, Brooklyn in 1912 when the novel opens.
• She has a difficult first year of life. Many people think she is too weak to survive, but Katie feels like she is like the Tree of Heaven—that she will thrive in difficult situations.
• Grandmother Mary Rommely advises Mama to start reading to Francie because this is the way to opportunities. Mama devotes herself to making a better life for Francie and Neeley.
• Francie spends a lot of time by herself growing up and often feels lonely and isolated. .
• Francie really can’t wait to go to school. She goes to the clinic to get the mandated vaccinations, and the doctor there humiliates her because she is dirty.
• This is just the first disappointment about school, which ends up being a pretty mean place with cruel teachers and overcrowded classes. Miraculously, Francie learns to read and is totally thrilled—in fact, she decides that she will read a book every day of her life.
• Francie and Papa scheme to get her into a better school in a better neighborhood, and things improve. One day at school, she gets caught up in a big, fat lie, but instead of getting in trouble, her teacher redirects her creativity: Tell things the way they happen, but then write things the way she would have liked them to happen. This is great advice, and Francie starts writing, eventually deciding to make a career out of it.
• The way the neighborhood women treat Joanna—an unwed mother—makes Francie hate all women in general.
• Francie is attacked by a sexual predator on the stairs of her apartment building, but Mama shoots him before much damage is done.
• Papa dies soon after from complications of alcoholism and pneumonia. Heartbroken, Francie questions her belief in God.
• Mama, who is pregnant, tells Francie that she needs to check on her often and that she is depending on her during this time. Francie feels so happy to be needed and thinks it might even be better than being loved.
• Right after grade school graduation, Francie starts in the workforce.
• She excels at work and is quickly promoted to the top reading position at the clipping agency.
• Even though she does well at work, Francie really just wants to go back to high school and be among girls her own age.
• At the end of August, Mama tells Francie that only Neeley can go to high school this year; Francie is very angry, but realizes that life will be made easier with her good salary now. The pressure of having to support her family is overwhelming Francie though, and she feels like she might be stuck in this life forever.
• More than anything, Francie wants to go to college, and luckily, she is able to take some summer classes. Overall, it is an excellent experience, and on top of it all, she meets a pretty cool guy named Ben. When she applies to take full time college classes, she’s denied entry until she can pass an entrance exam.
• Sergeant McShane wants to marry Mama in the spring, and just like that, Francie’s burden of supporting the family lifts. McShane is able to support everyone and pay for them all to go to college.
• Francie takes the entrance exam and passes it. She will attend the University of Michigan in the fall.
• Ben gives Francie his school ring that has their initials engraved on it; he would like to marry her when they are both a little older.
• On the last Saturday at their old place, Francie goes around to say goodbye to her past. She goes home and helps Neeley prepare for an evening out, and they say their goodbyes now because they know the next couple days before she leaves for college will be very busy.
• Francie prepares for her date with Ben and notices that her old favorite tree that was cut down is sprouting a new tree from its trunk.