Lots of wear Last two pages have a tear in them, but can still read the page Spine is in good condition and all pages are intact Covers are not loose Signet Books, 1958, 199 pages John Gerard Braine was born in Bradford, Yorkshire in 1922. He sprang to immediate fame in 1957 with publication of his first novel, Room at the Top, which was a critical success and a major bestseller in England and America and was adapted for the screen in an Oscar-winning 1959 film starring Simone Signoret and Laurence Harvey The ruthlessly ambitious Joe Lampton rises swiftly from the petty bureaucracy of local government into the world of inherited wealth, fast cars, and glamorous women. But betrayal and tragedy strike as the original 'angry young man' of the fifties pursues his goals.