Room at the Top

Room at the Top is a novel by John Braine, first published in the United Kingdom by Eyre & Spottiswoode in 1957, about an ambitious young working class man who juggles sexual relationships with two middle-class women in a northern town in post-war England. Synopsis Joe Lampton, demobilised at the end of the Second World War, is starting in a new job as an accountant with the Municipal Treasury in the Yorkshire market town of Warley. He is 25 years old and of working class background from the industrial town of Dufton. He was in the RAF but spent most of the war as a POW, using this time to study accountancy. Joe has been living with his aunt and uncle because his parents were killed by a stray bomb during the war. He is determined to make something of himself, and dreams of a job paying ₤1,000 a year. In Warley, he lodges with the Thompsons, who live in the most affluent part of town, known locally as "T'top". The Thompsons introduce him to the local amateur dramatic society and there he meets Susan Brown, the 19 year old daughter of a successful local businessman. He also meets Alice Aisgill, who is nine years his senior, childless, and unhappily married to a businessman who is rumoured to be having an affair with his secretary. Joe is attracted to Susan and invites her out to the ballet, even though she is ostensibly the girlfriend of Jack Wales, a rich former RAF officer with a distinguished war record. Susan accepts the invitation and they have an enjoyable evening. Afterwards, Joe drives past the large and expensive homes of Jack and Susan and laughs at himself for thinking that he could ever marry Susan. After rehearsing a play at the theatre, Alice and Joe drive to Sparrow Hill, overlooking Warley, where Alice seduces him. Alice asks Joe not to fall in love with her, but suggests they should become "loving friends".