Books set in London / England
 

Here is a companion post to the one about movies. What are some good novels that are set in London--or England in general?

A few years ago I posted the same question and got some interesting suggestions. It made me begin reading the Inspector Lynley mysteries.

Recently someone has suggested historical novels by Sharon Kay Penman, which I'm trying to get from my library.

What are some other suggestions?

Another police series which I enjoy is by Deborah Crombie with Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James working for the Met. It's set mainly in London, but does branch out.

"London" by Edward Rutherford is a HUGE book, but I was able to slog all the way through it just before I spent three months in London. I found myself thinking about the history of the various parts of London as I walked around. It's not great literature, but it gave me a perspective of London.

Try "The Bastard's Tale," by Margaret Frazier. It's part of her excellent series about a nun--not all the books are set in London, but this one is. You'll never forget the last two chapters.

Many of Georgette Heyer's Regency books are set in London and are delightful reading.

The Matthew Shardlake historical mysteries by Sansome give a great feel of Tudor London; P. D. James rates "Dissolution" among her top five.

Finally, Christopher Fowler has an excellent series based in London; the first is "Full Dark House.

The Crombie books are some of the best around.

I liked "London" quite a lot. I also think "Pillars of the Earth" is good for background on England. Bill Bryson's "Notes from a Small Island" is and excellent funny book, and I once read a , ebook by Paul Thouroux (sp) about riding the trains all around England especially the little gauge trains that are probably gone now. Though about trains, it was more about the towns on the way and the people in them. It was fascinating.

edit - should read "a book by Paul Thouroux", not "an e book". Have no idea if it is an e book or not.

Peter Ackroyd is an acknowledged 'expert' on London and has written some excellent fiction and non fiction books about the city.
I loved Fingersmith by Sarah Waters, some of which is set in London.
Another superb novel is Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke.

A Tale of Two Cities?

That's Paul Theroux's <i>The Kingdom by the Sea; A Journey Around the Coast of Great Britain</i> [by train and on foot].

For historical context and an explanation of the momentous social changes since the 1880s David Cannadine's highly entertaining and informative <i>The Decline and Fall of the British Aristocracy</i>.

Not fiction, but the very best writings about London , including it's history are by H. V.Morton. There are 6 or 7 about London , some on English countryside, and some on Italy. He is an exceptional writer.

http://members.optusnet.com.au/~billgoman/

The above link didn't work, use this instead.

http://tinyurl.com/cfv3sj


Link to the H V Morton Society

For a survey of the London literary landscape, Donna Dailey &amp; John Tomedi's <i>London</i> in the Bloom's Literary Places series.

down and out in London and Paris

All the detective novels written by Peter Lovesey are great, but especially his Peter Diamond series, set in the city of Bath. Lovesey is a terrific writer.

For non-fiction, I recommend &quot;The Anglo Files&quot; by Sarah Lyall, which I just finished reading. It is a very entertaining look at various aspects of English society and psychology.

Second the suggestion of Bill Bryson's <i>Notes from a Small Island</i>.

I LOVE the Agatha Raisin mysteries by M. C. Beaton (just finished reading the newest one). They are set in the Cotswolds. M. C. Beaton also wrote the Hamish Macbeth mysteries that were made into a television series shown on PBS years ago. They are also good, but are set in the Scottish highlands.

Also love the John Rebus detective novels by Ian Rankin - set in Edinburgh, Scotland.

For mysteries I agree Deborah Crombie's are good. Also
Reginald Hill
Robert Barnard
P.D. James
Ruth Rendell
Peter Dickinson

PEnelope Lively's City of the Mind is set in London

Anthony Powell's Dance to the Music of Time

A great new one is <i>The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society</i>. It is written in the form of correspondence just after WWII, somewhat like Helene Hanff's delightful <i>84 Charing Cross Road</i>.

Muriel Sparks' <i>A Far Cry from Kensington</i> is excellent. Cynthia Harrod-Eagles, who is wonderful, has a mystery series as well as an enormous historical series set in Yorkshire but dealing with all the wars from the War of the Roses forward and not yet up to date.

There are tons of English mysteries, my favorite genre. You can look at the site Stop, You're Killing Me to find series listed by date of publication. I agree re Deborah Crombie. Others I especially like are Peter Robinson, Charles Todd, Kate Charles, Bruce Alexander for 17th century, Anne Perry for Victorian, Patricia Hall's Simon Serrailler series, Will Thomas.

I can go on! And don't forget Agatha Christie.

What? No one has mentioned Jane Bloody Austen? I am shocked - shocked, I tell you!

I'll second Margaret Frazer's Dame Frevisse series, and also suggest Ellis Peters' Brother Cadfael mysteries, set in and around Shrewsbury Abbey.

P.G. Wodehouse is a must-read as well.

Lee Ann

A couple of the Narnia books are partly set in London.

Anything by Ruth Rendell or her alter ego Barbara Vine, the wonderful PD James, Ngaio Marsh. The series by Jasper Fforde - can't think what they're called but they're a takeoff on nursery rhymes.

There's a detective series set in Aberdeen, Scotland that I enjoyed. Stop You're Killing Me lists detective novels by locale if you're interested.

Lee Ann,

I was thinking the same thing! I believe Persuasion features more areas in England that that other Austen books.

Totally in agreement about Agatha Christie. I know most people love Poirot or Miss Marple, but I fell in love with Tommy and Tuppence(I guess you could call her plucky since I can't think of a better description) - great characters who kind of fall into the detective business since they need work after serving in WWI. I think the very first one that features them is called &quot;The Secret Adversary&quot;.

I'm also surprised no one mentioned Elizabeth Gaskell. I actually watched and became a huge fan of the BBC version of her novel, &quot;North &amp; South&quot;, and then got around to reading the book. I think it's set in the 1850-1860's in an industrial town in the North of England(the town is based on Manchester). The relationship between the two main characters are eerily similar to Pride and Prejudice, but a big part of the novel focuses on the relationships between the factories owners and their workers. It's a really fantastic novel.

Penel523,

Did you enjoy reading the Inspector Lynley mysteries? I've heard people say the books were much better than the series, which I haven't been able to see yet.

Let's have another go shall we?

The best author IMHO for catching the reality of real modern london is Martin Amis - try London Fields, the Rachel Papers or Money.

There's a series of detective books by Mark Billingham which have the apparently impossible trick of actually getting the bits about how the police really work right. They revolve around a detective in Kentish Town and again are good on the non tourist bits of London

A slightly wilder suggestion is Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere, in which there is an underground fantasy london populated by the people the placenames suggest - ie a blacksmith in hammersmith, an angel in Islington, knights in knightsbridge and so on. It's better than I am making it sound.

I second Neverwhere. It's SciFI but I found it fanscinating how Gaiman wove the station names into his story his take on urban Tube riders. It was also made into a BBC miniseries awhile back.

If were mentioning historical, what about Sherlock Holmes? Racing all over London in hansom cabs during foggy days and nights.

Anna - Have you read 'The Light Years' series of books by Gaskell - they are the most brilliant depiction of pre-war and wartime Britain, contrasting the lives of the middle classes and their servants.

Anna - I've read all the Lynley books, except one and loved them all. I've also seen all the movies (5 series, if I remember correctly). Read the books first and read them in order to get the full character development. The movies are loosely based on the books and some are based on the characters (much like the Morse series).

I also second the Agatha Raisin series (also read in order). If you're looking for a quirky cozy mystery, this series is at the top of the list. They're short, light, and engaging.

Some other authors/books I don't see mentioned here(fiction):

Joanna Trolloppe (The Choir, The Rector's Wife)
Rosamond Pilcher (The Shell Seekers)
Muriel Spark (The Girls of Slender Means)
Hazel Holt (Mrs. Malory mysteries)
Sally Spencer (Inspector Woodend mysteries, set in the 1960s)
Veronica Stallwood (Kate Ivory mysteries set in Oxford; only the early books are published in the US but the later books can be ordered from Amazon UK)

I think the early Agatha Raisin books are out of print in the US but my local libraries have the entire series.

Saturday by Ian McEwan is set in London and most of his books are set in Britain.

" Notes from an exhihition" by Patrick Gale, an excellent book set in the West Country so are most of his books.

"Engelby" by Sebastian Faulk, the story goes from Oxford, Reading to London.

penel, I hope you won't mind too much if I highjack your wonderful thread slightly to ask if anyone has suggestions for books set in York? (Other than the much appreciated one above for Cynthia Harrod-Eagles.)

The Dress Lodger by Holman

Behind the Scenes at the Museum (York) by Kate Atkinson

The James Herriot books (Yorkshire)

Novels by the Brontes (Yorkshire)

Ian McEwan's novels

Thanks, Cath!

For a London setting, try the wonderful "The Uncommon Reader." It's sheer delght.

Fiona Buckley does a good Elizabethan series. A friend gave me the first and I read straight through the rest.

Ellis Peters, author of the beloved Brother Cadfael series, is actually Edith Pargeter. Under that name she wrote a number of historical novels, of which "The Heaven Tree," "The Green Branch," and "The Scarlet Seed" are some of my all-time favorites.

P.S. The Lynley books are definitely a cut above the TV series--it doesn't help that the otherwise fine Nathaniel Parker doesn't look anything like his description in the books.

Jasmine, welcome to Fodors, I hope you enjoy the site. We generally don't re-vitalise old threads, but start new ones. Please start as many as you like, we will all pile in and discuss etc.

There are various reasons for that, not least that contributers and knowledge has changed, old news is no news as they say.

"Bridget Jones with guns and dead bodies"
Looks interesting :-)

A number of the excellent novels by Joanna Trollope are set in London.

These are some of my most recent favorites - meaning having read them within the last number of years:

The Bryant and May series by Christopher Fowler - detectives in WWII and now-ish - most if not all set entirely in London

Bruce Alexander's Sir John Fielding novels set in the 18th century re the beginning of the Bow Street Runners - all set in London

The Carbon Diaries, 2015 by Saci Lloyd - futuristic set in very near future where recognizable London deals with some environmental and political challenges

Anne Perry series featuring Pitt and Monk - two separate series - a little dark and repetitive sometimes, but then sometimes fresh and intriguing, like the most recent, Dorchester Terrace

William Boyd: Ordinary Thunderstorms
http://www.williamboyd.co.uk/ordinary-thunderstorms

Speak for yourself Bilbo;

I find old news to be of tremendous value.
Contributers do change and thus not post on a new thread.

Would you lose all that perspective just because conversation began a few years ago?

I'd rather open a few comprehensive threads than a multitude of new threads on same subject posted over and over.