A Stone for Danny Fisher

I'm now the proud owner of a Harold Robbins book. Never heard of him? Me neither. But the title is well known to me, and I immediately recognized it in the second-hand bookshop. Elvis fourth movie "King Creole" is based on it and it's called "A Stone For Danny Fisher".

The book was written in 1951 and it must have sold steadily through the years, because my edition is the 42nd printing, dated July 1973. And apparently the book is still in print.

The yellowed pages tells the story of Danny struggling to be a boxer in New York, not a singer in New Orleans as was the case in Elvis version.

I cheated and read the ending first, and it is not as happy as in "King Creole", where Danny continues his success. Instead he gets a stone in a cemetery, so to speak. But a little before that, he also becomes a father, if I understand it correctly. Guess I have to start from the beginning.

And when I'm finished reading I have to find copies of "Flaming Lance" (pretty obvious which movie is based on that one) by Clair Huffaker and "Pioneer Go Home" by Richard Powell (the novel behind "Follow That Dream").