'A Stone For Danny Fisher', a novel by Harold Robbins.

'SPOILERS AHEAD!'

'A Stone For Danny Fisher' is a very serious, early novel by Harold Robbins that looks at the effect of the Great Depression on a lower-middle class Jewish family. Written in 1952 it is actually set in the period up to 1944. Harold Robbins (originally Harold Rubin) (May 21, 1916–October 14, 1997) was an American author. ... The Great Depression was a massive global economic recession (or depression) that ran from 1929 to 1941. ... The word Jew ( Hebrew: יהודי) is used in a wide number of ways, but generally refers to a follower of the Jewish faith, a child of a Jewish mother, or someone of Jewish descent with a connection to Jewish culture or ethnicity and often a combination of these attributes. ... 1952 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

The novel opens in the mid-1920's as a young Danny Fisher and his family move in to a new house in the Brooklyn suburbs. Within a few years, however, the Depression hits and Danny is forced to drop out of school and use his one talent, boxing, as a means of supporting his family. The Brooklyn Bridge in 1890, seven years after its opening Kings County in New York State Brooklyn is the most populous of the five boroughs of New York City. ...

A few years further on, the family have lost their house and are living in a mean apartment in the City. Danny continues to box, much against his father's wish, and dates a young Italian Catholic girl - much to the chagrin of his mother's Jewishness.

Danny's boxing skills attract the attention of the local hoodlums and he is offered a large sum of money to throw the 'Golden Gloves' championship - a fight he could win easily and would bring him professional fame as well as, it is hoped, his father's acceptance.

Danny accepts the bribe but beats his opponent. After going on the run for a few years in Coney Island, he returns to marry his Italian sweetheart but their early married life is marred by the death of their first born child in poverty. Image of Coney Island (middle left of picture) taken by NASA. The peninsula at right is Rockaway, Queens. ...

At this point, Danny seeks out his former manager and goes into business with him as a black marketeer - an event which surely brings him in to contact with the very hoods he ripped off previously. The conclusion to the story, with Danny's gory machine-gun death in counterpoint to arrival of new life, is inevitable.

The novel was adapted in to the movie King Creole for a young Elvis Presley but retained very little of the original plot. King Creole starring Elvis Presley King Creole is a 1958 Elvis Presley film and soundtrack based on the 1952 Harold Robbins novel, A Stone for Danny Fisher. ... Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), also known as The King of Rock and Roll, or as just simply The King, was an American singer who had an effect on world culture rivaled only by The Beatles and Chuck Berry. ...