London is the metropolis of culture in England. With so much to see, do and experience, there are countless books written about life in the capital. Below, we round up four must-read books set in London, from classics to modern revelations.
Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton
Dolly Alderton’s debut explores her time growing up in London and the romantic experiences she had along the way. Whilst exploring love, grief, friendship and addiction, we become drawn into Dolly’s world and the London she inhabits as a teenager and young adult in the 2000s. An emotional read, I would recommend to any young woman as it perfectly highlights so many of the universal experiences we go through growing up, such as friend break-ups and boy problems.
Her second novel, Ghosts, is also a must-read as she writes about Nina, who meets a man on a dating app only for him to ghost her, twice. Having grown-up in London, Dolly has a unique perspective with which to write about a city that feels like a small town at times.
Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
A literary classic, the short story follows one day in the life of upper-class Mrs Dalloway as she prepares to host a party in her London home. Featuring flashbacks to her youth and to the trauma surrounding a man named Septimus, the stream-of-consciousness of the story allows for a captivating (and quick!) read as we become immersed in Mrs Dalloway’s life.
Lara by Bernardine Evaristo
Lara is a complex tale that is semi-autobiographical, and follows hundreds of years of family history spanning different countries but always arriving in London. Each chapter in the first half follows different members of Lara’s genealogy as we find them moving to London for work, love and change starting in the 1700s. We then meet Lara- a mixed-race London girl- in the late 1980s at art school as she begins to learn about all those who came before her, and the struggles they faced, such as racism and poverty. She then travels to her father Taiwo’s family home in Nigeria and his ancestral home in Brazil. While the novel-in-verse takes us around the world, everything leads back to London as a place of multiculturalism and opportunity.
Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell
This recent release follows the members of 1960s band Utopia Avenue as they form, release music, and try to make a name for themselves in the chaos that is London at the peak of musical change. Each chapter is from a different band member’s perspective, and so we see how they interact and feel towards one another during their journey to fame. With relationship issues, loss, feminism and gay rights as backing themes, the music becomes a way for them to voice their fears and concerns, and by including the lyrics, Mitchell ensures the reader feels these fears too. With literary cameos from musicians such as David Bowie and artists such as Francis Bacon, we see London as a place of culture, music and drugs and an exciting place for a fresh new band to be.
Each author experiences London in a different way, and their perspective influences their novels. Books set in London highlight the vibrancy of the city, and the multicultural environment that provides space for creativity and the exploration of self both for the characters of the novels, and for the readers.
Read next: The best books set in Oxbridge