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 Peter (novelist) John Peter (novelist) John Desmond Peter (1921–1983) was an English literature scholar, essayist, and novelist born in South Africa. He studied law at the University of South Africa, and English literature at Cambridge University, later obtaining his Ph.D. from Rhodes University. Peter came to Canada in 1950 and taught English at the University of Manitoba for eleven years. He joined the Victoria College Department of English in 1961. He was co-founder, with Robin Skelton, of the literary magazine "Malahat Review". He is remembered mostly widely for his 1952 essay "A New Interpretation of "The Waste Land"", in which he interpreted