Please help me remember this YA book from the 90s

[ZimZamZoom]

I have been trying to remember/find this book on and off for about ten years.

When I was at middle school (mid 90s) I read a book about a community of people who lived in secret tunnels in and around the London Underground. I think it began with a teenager running away from home and ending up joining this secret underground community. I cannot remember anything else about the plot though.

I suppose there is a chance it was written/published earlier than the 90s.

I would dearly love to rediscover this book.

Thanks in advance for any ideas.

Possibly The Borribles by Michael de Larrabeiti. Runaway children in London, who names themselves after London train stations, and become effectively immortal unless their ears are clipped become normal children again. One of the main characters was called Battersea.
I would have read it the same time, so mid 90s

I remember this too but I don't know what it was called

Thanks but it wasn't this one, sorry. It was less fantastical than this. More gritty, real people.

Is it this one? www.amazon.co.uk/Underground-Conspiracy-Plus-Storr-Catherine/dp/0140340114

No, not this one either :( Thanks though.

I don’t know the answer but it sounds very good, OP. I have fond half memories of lots of YA books I read in the 90s.

Junk was a gritty story about a teenage runaway. Not sure about the underground element though?

Oh I have this book, she's called Eva or something, lives with her auntie, she's unregistered because she had a weird ECG scan, turns out she's magnetic? The kids she befriends live in disused London underground stations I think. If that's the one I'll hunt the book out.

Could it have been Fireweed by Jill Paton Walsh?

Viaduct child (apparently now called electric dragon) is the book I was thinking of, if that's it?

Following with interest as I read this book too but can't remember it's name.

It sounds like The underground conspiracy by Catherine Storr. Genuinely scary!

This one, out of the hundreds of books I read at that time of my life, is the one that still keeps bobbing up from the depths of my memories. It makes me think that I must need to re-read it for some reason or another!

I've had a look at this one, but I'm pretty sure drugs weren't featured.

This doesn't ring any bells at all. Thanks though.

No not this one either. I read it in the 90s and it seemed to be contemporary to the best of my memory.

I loved that book @ZimZamZoom! But also can't remember what it was called. Often wished for a sequel/series and struggled to shake the characters/stories from my head.

No :( thanks though.

I think the protagonist was a teenage boy.

Nope, sorry not this one either!

@Neilsfavouritechilli @mummymummymummummum

I feel sure it was a tale of a male, teenage runaway - sleeping rough on the streets of London. Somehow discovers a whole community of rough sleepers who live and survive in the long-abandoned underground stations and tunnels.

Do either of you remember any other details?

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman? It was published in 1996.

It is fantasy - I remember it including underground bits but according to Wikipedia it’s not all about that.

I think on Goodreads you can post what you remember about the book and people will help you find it. It may be worth trying there. Please come back if you do find the title, it sounds like a good read.

I remember (though maybe not accurately) that quite a lot happened before he stumbled into the Underground (I think he was running/hiding when he ended up down there). And that the book suddenly completely changed and became solely about this underground world.

I also remember him having to learn to keep out of the way of trains. One time there wasn't enough space to get to one side so he/they ended up lying between the rails.

It's the closest match so far but it isn't the one I'm thinking of.

I will be adding Neverwhere to my reading list though, so thanks for that :)

Thank you, I will try that later on. I'd like to give the MN hivemind a bit more time to come up with the answer first 😆

If I find out on goodreads, I'll definitely report back to this thread.