John Gerard Braine

John Gerard Braine 1922-86, English novelist, b. Bradford, Yorkshire. With his first novel, Room at the Top (1957), Braine established himself as one of England's angry young men . This novel bitterly chronicles the rise of a young working-class man into the upper middle class of an English factory town. In its penetrating analysis of the English class structure and of psychological relationships, Room at the Top was representative of all Braine's novels. His other works include Life at the Top (1962), The Jealous God (1964), Writing A Novel (1974), Finger of Fire (1977), and One and Last Love (1981).

Braine, John Gerard (1922–86), novelist, won fame with his first novel, Room at the Top (1957), set in a small Yorkshire town; its hero, Joe Lampton, was hailed as another of the provincial ‘Angry Young Men’ of the 1950s. Lampton, a ruthless opportunist working at the Town Hall, seduces and marries the wealthy young Susan Browne, despite his love for an unhappily married older woman. Life at the Top (1962) continues the story of his success and disillusion. Braine's later novels express his increasing hostility to the radical views with which he was once identified.