The Angry Young Men movement, featuring such stars as Kingsley Amis, is perfectly illustrated through the iconic figure of Joe Lampton. The ruthlessly ambitious Joe Lampton rises swiftly from the petty bureaucracy of local government into the unfamiliar world of inherited wealth, fast cars and glamorous women. But the price of success is high, and betrayal and tragedy strike as Joe pursues his goals.

"A valid and important human situation . . . The book is vivid with the characteristic Braine sights and smells." - Kenneth Allsop, "Daily Mail"
"Triumphantly underlines the point that "Room at the Top" was no flash-in-the-pan. He alone, of the generation that has achieved celebrity in the last five years, is a genuine novelist in the great tradition." - "Yorkshire Post"
"A gifted and skilled writer . . . His prose is at its best extremely vivid." - Richard Hoggart, "The Guardian"
"The work of a real writer." - Peter Green, "The Telegraph"
"Once again Mr. Braine shows his great capacity for a tearaway narrative, for crisp dialogue and stark emotion . . . "The Vodi" increases his stature." - "London Times"
As a child, Dick Corvey discovered the existence of the Vodi, a race of ferret-faced creatures with luminous eyes responsible for all the misfortune and suffering in the world. Now fully grown, Dick lies in a sanitorium, suffering from untreatable tuberculosis. Unable to leave his hospital bed and convinced that the Vodi will win its ultimate triumph with his fast-approaching death, he spends his time remembering the many failures in his life that have led him to this point. But when an attractive nurse, Evelyn Mallaton, is transferred to Dick's ward and takes an interest in his recovery, Dick begins to believe in the possibility of regaining his health and defeating the Vodi once and for all. . . .
The hero of John Braine's smash bestseller "Room at the Top" (1957) was a man determined to succeed at all costs; in his second novel, "The Vodi" (1959), Braine depicted a very different type of character: a man who seems destined to fail. This edition of "The Vodi," which M. John Harrison has called "the defining moment of an as-yet-unreported genre: kitchen sink gothic," is the first-ever American reprint of the novel and includes a new introduction by Janine Utell.

"Remember the name John Braine. You'll be hearing quite a lot about him. Room at the Top is his first novel and it is a remarkable one . . . it's a long time since we heard the hunger of youth really snarling and it's a good sound to hear again." - "Sunday Times"
"The most discussed, debated and lauded first novel of the year." - "New York Times"
"This novel is brilliant . . . The observation is shrewd and the emotion and the comedy are so true it hurts." - "Daily Express"
Brought up amid squalor and poverty in a dead, ugly small town, young Joe Lampton has one ambition: to escape the anonymous, defeated crowd of "zombies" and make it to the top. Everything seems to be going according to plan when he moves to a new city, finds a good job and new friends, and inspires the love of a pretty girl with a rich father. Only one thing holds him back: his passionate affair with an older married woman. Forced to choose between true love and his ruthless pursuit of wealth and success, Joe will have to make a terrible decision, with violent and tragic consequences.
"Room at the Top" (1957), the first novel by John Braine (1922-1986), earned widespread critical acclaim and was a runaway bestseller in England and America, running into dozens of printings and spawning a sequel and an Oscar-winning film adaptation. Still explosive more than half a century later, Braine's classic of the "Angry Young Men" movement returns to print in this edition, which features a new introduction by Janine Utell and the original jacket art by John Minton.