Best books about London? Fiction or non-fiction

[BansheeofInisherin]

Would love your suggestions.

London: The biography by Peter Aykroyd is really good.

I love the Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch. Detective / fantasy novels grounded in London. Also funny 😀

This Is London.

I second the Rivers of London series. 👍😀

Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman.

Whatever you read, DON'T read (or try and read, as was the case with me) London Fields by Martin Amis.

London, by Edward Rutherford

Neverwhere, rivers of London, Tom Thorne series

The Victorian era, the twenties, and the blitz are covered by Sarah Waters' novels (except The Little Stranger).

Any by Peter Ackroyd. Also The Worst Street in London is a good read.

The Bryant & May series (quirky detective novels) by Christopher Fowler are great.

Not sure you'd call this about London per se, but The Five, by Hallie Rubenhold. The lives of the five victims of Jack the Ripper, who they were and how they ended up in Whitechapel on the nights they died.

And JtR barely gets a mention, which makes a nice change

https://enoughofthistomfoolery.wordpress.com/2022/05/13/book-review-the-five-the-untold-lives-of-the-women-killed-by-jack-the-ripper-halle-rubenhold/

I read 'Bricklane' by Monica Ali years ago. I didn't think it was outstanding, but as I lived 5mins from there at the time, I recognised many themes and thought it worth a read.

I recently read Georgian London: Into the Streets by Lucy Inglis. Absolutely fascinating on how all the individual villages became the London of today and some great tales of the characters living there. She's very tongue in cheek so far from a dry, historical tome.

The Catharine Arnold books:
Underworld London: Crime and Punishment in the Capital City, and
Necropolis: London and its Dead, are both excellent books.

The Worst Street in London by Fiona Rule, also excellent. I found it good to have Google street view open while reading it to get a sense of where everything was.

Forgot to mention another Catharine Arnold book! Bedlam: London and its Mad. Really interesting.

Thanks all!

Capital by John Lanchester (there was a BBC Mini series made a few years back which was excellent)

Capital by John Lancaster
Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby (or About a Boy thinking about it)
Night watch (Sarah waters)
The end of the affair (Graham greene)

The Lonely Londoners by Sam Selvon.

(Not that London-based literature has to have London in the title!)

Why are you asking, @BansheeofInisherin?

Dickens? Oliver Twist/Pickwick Papers
Life After Life, Kate Atkinson

I like the Stone Heart trilogy by Charlie Fletcher. It’s aimed at teens rather than adults but I think have a good story line.

I’d quite like to do a tour round all the statues and landmarks.

Mrs Dalloway

I loved Flood by Richard Doyle. It's fiction but details how London is overwhelmed by water during a storm/high tide and I think the Thames Barrier fails.
I found the attention to detail around how the various landmarks would be affected, and the domino effect, really interesting.

Would also recommend The Five. By learning about the lives of the women, you find out huge anounts about the precariousness of the lives of poor people, especially women, at that time.