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A Ladder to the Sky

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A Ladder to the Sky

By: John Boyne
Narrated by: Richard E. Grant, Laurence Kennedy, Richard Cordery, Nina Sosanya
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About this listen

Random House presents the audiobook edition of A Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne, read by Richard E. Grant, Richard Cordery, Nina Sosanya and Laurence Kennedy.

A psychological drama of cat and mouse, A Ladder to the Sky shows how easy it is to achieve the world if you are prepared to sacrifice your soul.

If you look hard enough, you can find stories pretty much anywhere. They don’t even have to be your own. Or so would-be writer Maurice Swift decides very early on in his career.

A chance encounter in a Berlin hotel with celebrated novelist Erich Ackermann gives him an opportunity to ingratiate himself with someone more powerful than him. For Erich is lonely, and he has a story to tell. Whether or not he should do so is another matter entirely.

Once Maurice has made his name, he sets off in pursuit of other people’s stories. He doesn’t care where he finds them – or to whom they belong – as long as they help 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.

©2018 John Boyne (P)2018 Random House Audiobooks Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Scary Thought-Provoking

Critic reviews

"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." (Hannah Beckerman)

"Everything the wonderful Irish novelist John Boyne writes is special...a highly entertaining read" (Jake Kerridge)
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I loved this. The third John Boyne I've listened to and so far easily the most inventive and intriguing; really drawing in - and that's saying something when the other two were The Heart's Invisible Furies and A History of Loneliness.
I felt something like a horrified fascination with the central character, which got deeper and deeper, with his monstrousness even bettered at one point by one of the more minor characters who seemed placed there to horrify even further. Bravo! I liked also the phasing of the four parts and the deliberately self-questioning, inward-looking jokiness that I thought I could read into it, and the nods to other authors/genres. Or is that simply John's inventiveness at play?

Fascinating... literally

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I love his characterisation and the way everything always links together. Excellent at creating heinous but strangely relatable characters.

Another great John Boyle

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This book is excellent. It’s my first JB book and there will be more to follow.

Brilliant

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Having read all of Boyne’s books, I was excited to start this one. I deliberately didn’t read the blurb so I had no idea what it would be about. The story was very original and whilst I found the first part a bit hard to get into, the rest was easy to listen to continuously (over 2 days.) Sadly it didn’t have the humour that I so loved in Crippen and The Heart’s Invisible furies and it was very hard to find anything to like about the main protagonist or even any of the other characters. That said, I enjoyed it and Boyne remains one of my favourites.

Impeccably written as usual

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This is a fantastic story, the performances are utterly gripping. Found it hard to stop the audio

Loved this story and the performances. u

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This is one of those stories where you're listening to it walking along and you're actually shouting at the characters, swearing at them even. Sometimes I found myself just standing on the street, dumbfounded. Without giving anything away, this book just keeps in giving. Starts off with a lovely historical-novel feel, but then it goes down a slow incline, and gets deeper and almost darker, still focussed on the same theme, I just didn't know it was going to go this way. It was awesome. The main character gets more and more intriguing, but be prepared not to love him. It was so intriguing. I had to walk to and from work every day for so long just to keep listening. You won't be able to take the headphones off! Brilliantly read, I loved that the character Maurice sounds like Sean Bean, wonderful.
It made me (almost) want to write to the author, John Boyne and ask so many questions. The book reflects very much on the role of the writer, integrity, truth. Was John's writing based on experiences? Did he know someone like Maurice? What does he personally think of the thin line between borrowing, being inspired by something, and plagiarism? SO GOOD.

Gripping, not what I expected

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I liked everything about this book; John Boyne knows how to tell a story. I was occasionally surprised by his unexpected dark humour which made me gasp and smile, simultaneously shocked and thrilled.
I’m flying through his books, all quite different yet each has captivated and enthralled me.

Stunning story

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Another superb John Boyne novel. Great reading by Richard E. Grant. Not quite as goof as The Heart’s Invisible Furies - but almost!

Superb

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this is a very well written book. If you like "The Good Liar", you'll love this!

Great story.

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I loved everything about this book. I have read many of John Boyne’s books he is by far my favourite author. This is an excellent read and although sad in places the last paragraph had me smiling!

Excellent you must read this

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