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 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