Life at the Top

Is a continuation of the story of working class social climber Joe Lampton ten years after Room at the Top (1958). He had long ago achieved what he set out to do when he moved to the mill town of Warnley: he married Susan Brown, the daughter of the wealthiest and most influential man in town, the wool mill owner and a member of town council, and additionally became a sales executive at his father-in-law's mill, Joe and Susan as a result able to live in comfort with their two children in a beautiful suburban house. But Joe isn't happy being on the proverbial hamster wheel of the upper class without anything substantive behind it. Part of that wheel is Mr. Brown wanting him to follow in his political footsteps in running for council for the Conservative Party solely for the clout that comes along with it purely in towing the party line. At home, he doesn't believe Susan respects him in always running to daddy whenever she wants anything - Joe long ago having put aside any pretense of sexual interest in her in their marital problems - and also believes their adolescent son Harry will turn out to be just like his maternal grandfather in Mr. Brown making all the important decisions about the children's upbringing. Joe will discover that Susan too isn't happy in she having an affair with a married family friend, Mark. If Joe is to believe Mark's locker room talk, Susan isn't the only woman he has on the side. Within this situation, Joe contemplates having an affair of his own, the most likely candidate being Norah Hauxley, an on-air television personality recently arrived in town, she who sees her work in Bradford solely as a necessary stepping stone for a higher profile job in London. As that affair with Norah turns into talk of Joe possibly leaving Susan, Joe has to weigh the pros and cons specifically of turning his back on all he's worked for, factoring in if he is able or unable to prove to the world that he can make it on his own without the Brown name.