Bel Ami the London College of Music. The music and lyrics were written by Alex Loveless. John Braine, the English novelist, stated that his favourite author was Guy de Maupassant and that his first novel, "Room at the Top" (1957), was based on "Bel Ami", but 'the critics didn't pick it up'. Bel Ami Bel Ami is the second novel by French author Guy de Maupassant, published in 1885; an English translation titled "Bel Ami, or, The History of a Scoundrel: A Novel" first appeared in 1903. The story chronicles journalist Georges Duroy's corrupt rise to power from a poor former cavalry
John Murray (novelist) John Murray (novelist) John Murray (born 1950, Cleator Moor, Cumberland) is an English writer and novelist known for writing satirical novels on a range of subjects. He read Sanskrit at University College, Oxford. In 1984 he founded the fiction magazine "Panurge", which he edited with fellow author David Almond until 1996. Panurge Publishing published Julia Darling's debut collection of short stories, "Bloodlines" in 1995. Murray's first novel, "Samarkand", was published in 1985 and in 1988 he received the Dylan Thomas Award for his collection of stories, "Pleasure". In 2002 his novel "John Dory" won a Lakeland Book of the Year