'A deliciously dark tale of ambition' Observer
'Gripping ... chilling and darkly comic tale of unrelenting ambition' Daily Express
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. 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. 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. 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.
What readers are saying:
***** 'A breath-taking story of dangerous infatuation and sociopathic ambition'
***** 'A beautifully written, genre defying novel that I couldn't help gobbling up in a couple of days.'
***** 'Dark comic humour ... fascinating and gripping storytelling.'
About the Author :
John Boyne is the author of sixteen novels for adults, six for younger readers, a picture book and a collection of short stories. His 2006 novel
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas has sold more than 11 million copies worldwide and has been adapted for cinema, theatre, ballet and opera. His many international bestsellers include The Heart’s Invisible Furies and A Ladder to the Sky. He has won four Irish Book Awards, including Author of the Year in 2022, along with a host of other international literary prizes, including most recently both the 2025 Prix Femina Étranger and
the Prix du Roman FNAC in France for The Elements. His novels are published in sixty languages.
Twitter: @JohnBoyne
Instagram: @JohnBoyneAuthor
Review :
A deliciously dark tale of ambition, seduction and literary theft . . . compelling and terrifying, powerful and intensely unsettling. In Maurice Swift, Boyne has given us an unforgettable protagonist, dangerous and irresistible in equal measure. The result is an ingeniously conceived novel that confirms Boyne as one of the most assured writers of his generation.
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.
A dark morality tale in the mould of Patricia Highsmith . . . consistently intriguing
Everything the wonderful Irish novelist John Boyne writes is special . . . a highly entertaining read
Gripping . . . John Boyne is a master storyteller and fans will doubtless be captivated by this chilling and darkly comic tale of unrelenting ambition
Boyne delivers a perfect balance of pace and detail to keep you gripped throughout
Maurice Swift is a literary Tom Ripley . . . a first-class page turner
It charts the rise of Maurice Swift, as cold and manipulative a character as you’re likely to meet this year . . . the story takes an ever darkening series of twists and turns
‘A Ladder to the Sky is endlessness inventive and wickedly funny. Boyne’s irredeemable antihero holds up a brutally well lit mirror to every writer who has ever wondered what they need to do to do that little better...’
Clever, chilling and beautifully paced, a study of inner corrosion that Patricia Highsmith could not have done better
