A Ladder to the Sky

Maurice Swift is a man consumed by ambition, his charm and good looks masking a profound lack of original talent. Working as a waiter in West Berlin in 1988, he skillfully manipulates a chance encounter with renowned novelist Erich Ackermann, extracting a dark, wartime secret. This stolen story becomes the foundation of Maurice's meteoric rise to literary fame. Once he tastes success, his insatiable hunger for renown drives him to ever-more ruthless acts of deceit and manipulation. From the Amalfi Coast, where he crosses paths with Gore Vidal, to the literary salons of Manhattan and London, Maurice preys on the vulnerable and talented, co-opting their stories and lives for his own advancement. 'A Ladder to the Sky' is a chilling psychological thriller and a sharp satire of the literary world, portraying one man's cold-blooded ascent and the inevitable, precipitous fall from grace that awaits those who build their empires on lies.