Bellow, Saul

A young boy in Depression-era Chicago begins a career marked by failure until he finally achieves his success.

Abe Ravelstein, a brilliant professor who has lived far beyond his means, becomes a millionaire after he acts upon the suggestion of his close friend Chick that he write a book of his convictions about the ideas that sustain, or kill, humankind; but the two men face tragedy after they return home from a celebratory trip to Paris.

Sigmund Adletsky, an aging trillionaire, orchestrates a romance between his interior decorator Amy Wustrin and his advisor Harry Trellman, a man who has loved Amy for forty years.