Ladder to the sky

A deliciously dark tale of ambition, seduction and literary theft . . .<br><br>an ingeniously conceived novel that confirms Boyne as one of the most assured writers of his generation.' Hannah Beckerman, Observer*You've heard the old proverb about ambition, that it's like setting a ladder to the sky. It can lead to a long and painful fall. If you look hard enough, you will find stories pretty much anywhere.<br><br>They don't even have to be your own. Or so would-be-novelist Maurice Swift decides early on in his career. A chance encounter in a Berlin hotel with celebrated author Erich Ackerman gives Maurice an opportunity.<br><br>For Erich is lonely, and he has a story to tell; whether or not he should is another matter. Once Maurice has made his name, he finds himself in need of a fresh idea. He doesn't care where he finds it, as long as it helps him rise to the top.<br><br>Stories will make him famous, but they will also make him beg, borrow and steal. They may even make him do worse. This is a novel about ambition.<br><br>*'Maurice Swift, the novelist protagonist of John Boyne's A Ladder to the Sky, is a bookish version of Patricia Highsmith's psychopathic antihero Tom Ripley' The Times'A dark morality tale in the mould of Patricia Highsmith . . .<br><br>consistently intriguing' Daily Mail