Duffy's Rocks is a young adult novel by the American writer Edward Fenton (1917–1995) set in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

 during the Great Depression

Great Depression

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

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It tells the story of fourteen year old Timothy Francis Brennan as he comes of age in the fictional mill town

Mill town

A mill town, also known as factory town or mill village, is typically a settlement that developed around one or more mills or factories .- United Kingdom:...

 of Duffy's Rocks, adjacent to Pittsburgh, and a parallel of McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania

McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania

McKees Rocks, also known as "The Rocks", is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, along the south bank of the Ohio River. The borough population was 6,104 at the 2010 census.In the past, it was known for its extensive iron and steel interests...

. Brennan lives with his grandmother, a feisty Irish immigrant, as he searches for his missing father.