John Gerard Braine (13 April 1922 – 28 October 1986) was an English novelist. Braine is usually listed among the angry young men, a loosely defined group of English writers who emerged on the literary scene in the 1950s.

Early life

John Braine was born in the Westgate area of central Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire. The family later moved to the suburb of Thackley on the northern edge of the city. Braine left St. Bede's Grammar School at 16 and worked in a shop, a laboratory and a factory before becoming, after the war, a librarian in Bingley, a small town up the Aire Valley and at Darton in 1954 where locals put his inattention down to his spending his time writing his first novel.

Works

Although he wrote 12 works of fiction, Braine is chiefly remembered today for his first novel, Room at the Top (1957). The novel was conceived when he was being treated for tuberculosis in a hospital near the Yorkshire Dales town of Grassington. He stated that his favourite author was Guy de Maupassant and that Room at the Top was based on Bel Ami, but that "the critics didn't pick it up". Room at the Top was turned into a successful 1959 film, with Laurence Harvey as Joe Lampton and featuring an Oscar–winning performance by Simone Signoret. In September 2012, BBC television broadcast a two-part dramatisation that had been delayed because of a dispute over copyright. Matthew McNulty was in the lead role.

After achieving literary success, Braine moved to the south of England, living from 1966 until his death in Woking.

Personal life

Braine was married to Patricia Wood and had four children. They separated in the early 1980s, and Patricia moved to Shropshire with the two youngest children. He died from a gastric haemorrhage in 1986 at the age of 64.

Non-fiction

  • A Personal Record (Monday Club, 1968)
  • Writing a Novel (1974)
  • J.B. Priestley (1978)

References

  • John Braine – bibliography of first editions
  • John Braine archival collection at