A Ladder to the Sky

A Ladder to the Sky (2018) is a psychological thriller by Irish author John Boyne, celebrated for his internationally bestselling novel The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2006). Upon its release, A Ladder to the Sky was named a Notable Work of Fiction by The Washington Post and an American Booksellers Association Indie Next Pick. The novel charts the ascent of the handsome but untalented Maurice Swift, who builds a celebrated literary career by manipulating and stealing the stories of others. Drawing on the tradition of Patricia Highsmith’s anti-heroes and the historical context of post-war Europe, the book examines The Corrupting Nature of Unchecked Ambition, The Unethical Appropriation of Stories, and The Disconnect Between Artistic Merit and Personal Morality.

This guide refers to the 2019 Hogarth first United States paperback edition.

Content Warning: The source material and this guide contain depictions of antigay bias, alcohol addiction, death by suicide, physical and emotional abuse, pregnancy loss, and death.

Plot Summary

In 1988, the aging German-born novelist Erich Ackermann is enjoying unexpected fame after his novel Dread wins a major literary award known as “The Prize.” While on a book tour in West Berlin, he reflects on his lonely career and his youth in Nazi Germany. In the hotel bar, he becomes infatuated with a handsome young English waiter, Maurice Swift. Maurice approaches Erich, professing to be a great admirer and an aspiring writer himself. Flattered and captivated, Erich soon invites Maurice to join him on his European book tour as a personal assistant.

As they travel on his European book tour, Erich confides his life story to the ambitious young man. He recounts his unrequited love for his childhood friend, Oskar Gött, in pre-war Berlin. Consumed by jealousy over Oskar’s relationship with his girlfriend, Alysse, Erich admits to a series of betrayals. He first convinces Oskar to destroy a painting of Alysse and later, upon learning they plan to flee Germany, reports Alysse, who is part Jewish, and her family to the SS. The raid results in the shooting deaths of Oskar, Alysse, and her younger brother, and the deportation of her parents to the camps. Throughout these confessions, Maurice secretly networks with other writers, including the American novelist Dash Hardy, and secures his first publication. Once he has extracted Erich’s entire story, Maurice coldly severs their connection. A year later, he publishes Two Germans, a novel based entirely on Erich’s life, which publicly exposes Erich’s past. The scandal destroys Erich’s career and reputation, forcing him into a life of solitude in West Berlin, where he witnesses the fall of the Berlin Wall.

An interlude set in 1990 follows the celebrated author Gore Vidal at his Italian villa, where he hosts Dash Hardy and Maurice Swift. Gore is immediately suspicious of Maurice’s calculated charm, recognizing him as a ruthless social climber. During dinner, Maurice subtly denies his romantic relationship with Dash, humiliating him. Gore later confronts Maurice in private, calling him a “whore,” but one who “give[s] the profession a bad name” (129). Maurice, unfazed, reveals an unexpected ambition: to one day become a father. Gore sees through Maurice’s attempts at seduction and dismisses him, recognizing a fellow predator.

The narrative then shifts to the year 2000, told from the perspective of Edith Camberley, a successful debut novelist. She is married to Maurice, whose literary career has stalled after a disastrous second novel and a string of rejections. He is resentful of her success and obsessed with his desire for a child, an ambition he had previously revealed to Gore Vidal, which is complicated by their struggles with infertility. When Edith takes a teaching position in Norwich, Maurice begins working obsessively on a new manuscript. After Edith discovers she is pregnant, she receives a call from Maurice’s new agent and realizes that Maurice’s celebrated new novel, The Tribesman, is a theft of her own manuscript, which he copied from her computer. During a heated confrontation at the top of their apartment stairs, Edith stumbles due to a broken handrail she had repeatedly asked him to fix. As she teeters on the edge, Maurice gives her a final, gentle push. The fall leaves Edith in a coma, during which she miscarries. Though paralyzed, she is fully conscious and aware as Maurice plays the grieving husband, convinces everyone she had writer’s block, and ultimately gives doctors permission to turn off her life-support machine.

In a second interlude, the story moves forward several years. Maurice is now a successful editor of a prestigious New York literary magazine, Stori, and a single father to his seven-year-old son, Daniel, who Maurice explains was conceived via a surrogate. A flashback reveals Maurice’s teenage years, where he established his manipulative methods by trading sexual favors with a classmate, Henry Rowe, in exchange for stories about his family’s involvement in the Troubles in Belfast. It is also revealed that Maurice uses his position at Stori to steal plots and ideas from unsolicited manuscripts for his own bestselling novels.

The final part is narrated by Maurice in the present day. He is living in London with an alcohol addiction, his career having collapsed following the death of his son. He is contacted by Theo Field, a university student who claims to be a great admirer and wants to write a thesis on his work. Maurice agrees to meet, seeing a chance to revive his career, but is shocked by Theo’s uncanny resemblance to his late son, Daniel. Over a series of meetings in pubs, Maurice, increasingly drunk and confusing Theo with his son’s ghost, confesses his entire history of betrayals: using Erich Ackermann and Dash Hardy, stealing Edith’s novel, and plagiarizing stories from his magazine. A final flashback reveals the truth of Daniel’s death. At 13, Daniel discovered the manuscript for Maurice’s new project, a thinly veiled autobiography titled Other People’s Stories in which he confessed his crimes. Horrified by his father’s past, Daniel confronted him, which triggered a severe asthma attack. To protect his secrets, Maurice deliberately withheld Daniel’s inhaler and watched him die. In his inebriated state, Maurice confesses this murder to Theo.

Theo then reveals his own deception. He has been recording all their conversations and is, in fact, Erich’s great-nephew. His resemblance to Daniel was a calculated ruse, involving dyed hair and a fake inhaler, designed to manipulate Maurice into confessing for a biography he is writing about Erich. Theo leaves with the recordings, his project now a much larger exposé. Maurice is arrested, tried, and sentenced to life in prison for the murders of Edith and Daniel. In his cell, he remains unrepentant. He teaches a creative writing class and, after a talented inmate is murdered, steals the man’s manuscript, revises it, and publishes it as his own. The novel becomes a bestseller, and Maurice confidently awaits the announcement of The Prize longlist, certain of his impending victory.