Room at the Top (novel) death and his successful scheme to marry upwards. He is reassured that nobody blames him for Alice's death – but he knows this is wrong, and the book closes with him aware of his conscience, forced to live with his guilt and his responsibility for what has happened. Room at the Top (novel) Room at the Top is a novel by John Braine, first published in the United Kingdom by Eyre & Spottiswoode in 1957, about the rise of an ambitious young man of humble origin, and the socio-economic struggles undergone in realising his social ambitions in post-war Britain. A
John Braine small town five miles up the Aire Valley . Although he wrote 12 works of fiction, Braine is chiefly remembered today for his first novel, "Room at the Top" (1957). The novel was conceived when he was being treated for tuberculosis in a hospital near the Yorkshire Dales town of Grassington. He stated that his favourite author was Guy de Maupassant and that "Room at the Top" was based on "Bel Ami", but that "the critics didn't pick it up". "Room at the Top" was turned into a successful 1959 film, with Laurence Harvey as Joe Lampton and featuring an