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White City
It's 1952, and London is victorious but broken, a city of war ruins and rationing, run by gangsters and black-market spivs.
An elaborate midnight heist, the biggest robbery in British history, sends newspapers into a frenzy. Politicians are furious, the police red-faced. They have suspicions but no leads. Hunches but no proof.
For two families, it is more than just a sensational headline, as their fathers fail to return home on the day of the robbery.
Young Addie Rowe, daughter of a missing Jamaican postman and drunk ex-club hostess mother, struggles to care for her little sister in a dilapidated Brixton rooming house.
Claire Martin, increasingly resentful of roads not taken, strives to make the rent and keep her teenage son Ray from falling under unsavoury influences in Notting Dale.
She finds herself caught between the interests of dangerous men who may know the truth behind her husband's Dave Lander, whose reserved nature she finds difficult to reconcile with his reputation as a violent gang enforcer, and Teddy 'Mother' Nunn, a sociopathic, evangelising outlaw and top lieutenant in Billy Hill's underworld.
Drawn together through the years in the city's invisible web of crime and poverty, the fates of the broken families and violent men collide in 1958, as the West Indian community of Notting Hill's slums come under attack from thugs and Teddy Boys. For Addie, Claire, Dave and Mother, old scores will be settled and new dreams chased in the crucible of London's violent summer.
An elaborate midnight heist, the biggest robbery in British history, sends newspapers into a frenzy. Politicians are furious, the police red-faced. They have suspicions but no leads. Hunches but no proof.
For two families, it is more than just a sensational headline, as their fathers fail to return home on the day of the robbery.
Young Addie Rowe, daughter of a missing Jamaican postman and drunk ex-club hostess mother, struggles to care for her little sister in a dilapidated Brixton rooming house.
Claire Martin, increasingly resentful of roads not taken, strives to make the rent and keep her teenage son Ray from falling under unsavoury influences in Notting Dale.
She finds herself caught between the interests of dangerous men who may know the truth behind her husband's Dave Lander, whose reserved nature she finds difficult to reconcile with his reputation as a violent gang enforcer, and Teddy 'Mother' Nunn, a sociopathic, evangelising outlaw and top lieutenant in Billy Hill's underworld.
Drawn together through the years in the city's invisible web of crime and poverty, the fates of the broken families and violent men collide in 1958, as the West Indian community of Notting Hill's slums come under attack from thugs and Teddy Boys. For Addie, Claire, Dave and Mother, old scores will be settled and new dreams chased in the crucible of London's violent summer.
489 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 7, 2024
123 people are currently reading
359 people want to read
About the author
Dominic Nolan
12 books40 followersDominic Nolan is a British author, known for the Abigail Boone series of crime novels.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
November 6, 2024
Another dark and highly enjoyable novel from a really talented writer. As with his previous novel, Vine Street, this is more historical noir than crime thriller. There is suspense, of course, but not really any mystery to sort out. It's more about the fall out of a crime and the effects on the characters, as well as the feel of the whole piece, than about plot.
Here Nolan plays around with the real-life (and unsolved) 1952 Eastcastle Street postal van robbery, which at the time was the biggest heist in British history. There is much fun to be had picking the real characters out from the fictional, and several times I got lost down Wikipedia wormholes while reading up on the many gangsters, socialites, politicians and journalists that hang around the edges of the story.
With lots of plots and sub-plots and heaps of characters, it's inevitable that some strands of White City convince more than others. For me, Dave Lander is the stand out, a guy stuck in the hollow moral middle between good and evil, corrupt and innocent. He epitomises both the heart of the novel and indeed the whole era.
Again, there is brutal violence, but much of the worst of it happens off screen. Still, you need a pretty strong stomach for this one. And 50s London, too, is really amazingly drawn - I think this conjuring of time and place is really what stands Nolan apart from other crime writers in the UK right now.
Here Nolan plays around with the real-life (and unsolved) 1952 Eastcastle Street postal van robbery, which at the time was the biggest heist in British history. There is much fun to be had picking the real characters out from the fictional, and several times I got lost down Wikipedia wormholes while reading up on the many gangsters, socialites, politicians and journalists that hang around the edges of the story.
With lots of plots and sub-plots and heaps of characters, it's inevitable that some strands of White City convince more than others. For me, Dave Lander is the stand out, a guy stuck in the hollow moral middle between good and evil, corrupt and innocent. He epitomises both the heart of the novel and indeed the whole era.
Again, there is brutal violence, but much of the worst of it happens off screen. Still, you need a pretty strong stomach for this one. And 50s London, too, is really amazingly drawn - I think this conjuring of time and place is really what stands Nolan apart from other crime writers in the UK right now.
December 7, 2024
Not a crime novel
Dominic Nolan’s inimitable style and worth reading for that alone. Despite what some reviewers have said this is not a crime novel in that nothing is detected and there is no Chandleresque quality of redemption. A novel full of often violent crime though. Well drawn characters aplenty. Don’t get too attached to them!
Dominic Nolan’s inimitable style and worth reading for that alone. Despite what some reviewers have said this is not a crime novel in that nothing is detected and there is no Chandleresque quality of redemption. A novel full of often violent crime though. Well drawn characters aplenty. Don’t get too attached to them!
August 18, 2025
In London in 1952 a GPO van was robbed which contained thousands of pounds of defaced, damaged and well used banknotes on their way for destruction. This novel follows the lives of some of those responsible and their families, in the years following the robbery and how the crime affected their subsequent lives. Dave Lander was one of the gang responsible but he comes from a family of coppers and has a secret life that not even his closest family members are aware. Reggie Rowe was the GPO ‘inside man’ on the heist and he has disappeared leaving behind a wife, Stevie and two children Addie and Nees. Reggie is a black man and his white wife and mixed race children struggle to make ends meet in the wake of his disappearance.
Lastly there is Claire Martin, whose husband Fred was also in on the job, who lives with her grown daughter, son Ray and her brother. The lives of these various characters intertwine via the crime but also through the circumstances and the times that they find themselves living through.
Although essentially a crime novel, this book is so much more than that as it is also a piece of social commentary of 50’s London. Nolan explores the class system where Royalty and celebrities rub shoulders with the criminal class in illegal gambling dens and brothels. He also explores the exploitation of the working classes by slum landlords and by employers. He specifically highlights the treatment of the blacks who suffer from discrimination and racism from all corners of society.
The initial crime actually acts as a catalyst which brings the characters and the story together which develops into an epic tale that takes place over the course of a number of years. It’s a violent novel but the violence is often not graphically described but just implied and this makes it even more horrifying.
This is one of the best novels that I’ve read this year and it kept me clinging on right through to the end awaiting to find out the fate of the main protagonists.
Lastly there is Claire Martin, whose husband Fred was also in on the job, who lives with her grown daughter, son Ray and her brother. The lives of these various characters intertwine via the crime but also through the circumstances and the times that they find themselves living through.
Although essentially a crime novel, this book is so much more than that as it is also a piece of social commentary of 50’s London. Nolan explores the class system where Royalty and celebrities rub shoulders with the criminal class in illegal gambling dens and brothels. He also explores the exploitation of the working classes by slum landlords and by employers. He specifically highlights the treatment of the blacks who suffer from discrimination and racism from all corners of society.
The initial crime actually acts as a catalyst which brings the characters and the story together which develops into an epic tale that takes place over the course of a number of years. It’s a violent novel but the violence is often not graphically described but just implied and this makes it even more horrifying.
This is one of the best novels that I’ve read this year and it kept me clinging on right through to the end awaiting to find out the fate of the main protagonists.
November 15, 2025
I struggled a little with this book, particularly with differentiating the characters in the early pages and some of the dialogue grated with me too. It’s a ‘crime’ novel, set in bomb ravaged London in the early 1950’s. A Post Office van carrying a large amount of money has been robbed.
It you are familiar with the author’s work, the style here is very similar - gritty, close to the characters, with an excellent eye and ear for London of the time. Unfortunately, this one didn’t really do it for me and I never really got into it.
It you are familiar with the author’s work, the style here is very similar - gritty, close to the characters, with an excellent eye and ear for London of the time. Unfortunately, this one didn’t really do it for me and I never really got into it.
October 25, 2025
A very compelling page turner. I'm not normally one for crime novels, but I loved the way this one was written. Taking place in London after WW2, the book follows various characters who are involved (either willingly or unwillingly) in the criminal underworld of the city. I found myself rooting for the unexpected characters, and enjoyed it all the way through to the end. Perfect vacation, airport, beach type read.
October 21, 2025
Ce roman noir est une véritable fresque historique sur le Londres des années 50. Une ville qui se remet à grand peine des bombardements du Blitz et qui attire déjà les premières vagues migratoires. Le roman s'ouvre en 1952 sur l'un des plus grands braquages de l'histoire britannique et se termine avec les émeutes raciales de 1958.
Le britannique Dominic Nolan s'était déjà fait remarquer avec Vine Street (publié en français en 2024), un polar qui emmenait le lecteur sur les traces d'un tueur en série dans le Londres des années 30 puis 40.
Le revoici cette année avec White City, un roman noir qui part d'un fait divers célèbre outre-Manche : le 21 mai 1952, un fourgon de la Poste britannique est intercepté par sept hommes à bord de deux voitures.
Il s’agit, à l’époque, du plus grand braquage de l’histoire britannique ; il le restera jusqu’à la fameuse attaque du train postal Glasgow-Londres. Le butin ne fut jamais récupéré et les brigands ne furent jamais inquiétés.
La traduction de l'anglais est signée David Fauquemberg que l'on connait également pour ses romans.
Le personnage principal est Dave Lander, un flic qui est infiltré 'sous couverture' dans un gang des mauvais quartiers londoniens tenus par Teddy 'Mother' Nunn, lieutenant principal du parrain Billy Hill. Une position très inconfortable pour un boulot ambigu et sous très haute tension.
« Perché depuis six ans sur le fil du rasoir entre flics et gangsters, Lander ne voyait plus guère de différence entre les deux. Peu lui importait dans quel camp les gens croyaient qu’il était – à ceci près que si l’un de ces deux camps venait à penser qu’il appartenait à l’autre, cela importerait au plus haut point. Dave Lander ne dormait jamais.
[...] Lander se demanda, pas pour la première fois, s’il était vraiment en sécurité à naviguer ainsi entre deux mondes, et si l’un de ces deux mondes l’aiderait, le moment venu, quand quelqu’un déciderait de le renvoyer, lui, là d’où il venait.
[...] Peu à peu, les choses avaient dégénéré, jusqu’à devenir incontrôlables. Vous volez quelques trucs ici, tabassez quelques personnes là. Et sans vous en rendre compte, vous voilà devenu plus gangster que flic.
[...] Les dimensions de son existence se réduisaient à vue d’œil : il vivait chaque instant en s’attendant à voir surgir un tueur à gages au coin de la rue. Chaque voiture dans laquelle il montait pouvait être celle dont il ne redescendrait jamais. »
Dans le bouquin, Dave Lander est à bord de l'une des deux voitures du fameux braquage qui ouvre le roman.
En parallèle, on va suivre une adolescente Adlyn 'Addie' Rowe, sa sœur Nees, leur mère Stevie.
Le père, Reggie Rowe, était le postier complice du gang, la taupe qui avait rencardé les braqueurs : on ne le reverra plus.
Comme dans son précédent roman, Dominic Nolan n'hésite pas à dérouler une intrigue sur plusieurs années : nous allons découvrir le Londres d'après-guerre, ses rues bombardées, ses immeubles en ruine, ses terrains devenus vagues. Une ville meurtrie par le Blitz qui se prépare à de grandes transformations, ce qui aiguise tous les appétits.
« La ville était pleine d’endroits de ce genre. De petites zones d’anéantissement où des bâtiments s’étaient écroulés et personne n’avait eu les moyens ou le cœur de les remplacer.
[...] Même si personne ne pensait plus trop à la guerre, ses cicatrices étaient partout.
[...] Les architectes du London City Council ont d’ambitieux projets. La moitié de la ville a déjà été rasée par la guerre, l’autre moitié ne demande qu’à l’être. De nouveaux boulevards plus larges menant jusqu’au cœur de la ville, adaptés à l’ère de l’automobile. »
Dans ce Londres délaissé par la middle-class, arrive une vague d'immigration venue de Jamaïque et de Trinidad avec son calypso. Le père de la jeune Adlyn vient de ces colonies britanniques et la famille vit pauvrement dans « une petite ruelle près des docks, une « rue domino » comme on disait, où familles blanches et noires vivaient côte à côte. »
Mais l'extrême droite et les gangs de Teddy Boys n'écoutent pas la même musique et si les premières pages s'ouvraient en mai 1952, l'intrigue va courir jusqu'aux émeutes raciales de 1958 pour nous faire découvrir tout un pan méconnu de l'histoire londonienne et britannique.
Adossé à tout ce 'background' historique, Dominic Nolan déploie sur près de cinq cent pages une fresque passionnante qui offre de multiples niveaux de lecture : les portraits de multiples personnages complexes et fouillés, l'urbanisation et ses trafics, l'immigration et le racisme, le suspense d'une captivante histoire de gangsters et même la chaleur humaine et les difficultés des familles de ce petit peuple londonien qui habitait des quartiers comme l'ancien Notting Hill, bien avant que Hugh Grant ait le coup de foudre pour Julia Roberts.
Le britannique Dominic Nolan s'était déjà fait remarquer avec Vine Street (publié en français en 2024), un polar qui emmenait le lecteur sur les traces d'un tueur en série dans le Londres des années 30 puis 40.
Le revoici cette année avec White City, un roman noir qui part d'un fait divers célèbre outre-Manche : le 21 mai 1952, un fourgon de la Poste britannique est intercepté par sept hommes à bord de deux voitures.
Il s’agit, à l’époque, du plus grand braquage de l’histoire britannique ; il le restera jusqu’à la fameuse attaque du train postal Glasgow-Londres. Le butin ne fut jamais récupéré et les brigands ne furent jamais inquiétés.
La traduction de l'anglais est signée David Fauquemberg que l'on connait également pour ses romans.
Le personnage principal est Dave Lander, un flic qui est infiltré 'sous couverture' dans un gang des mauvais quartiers londoniens tenus par Teddy 'Mother' Nunn, lieutenant principal du parrain Billy Hill. Une position très inconfortable pour un boulot ambigu et sous très haute tension.
« Perché depuis six ans sur le fil du rasoir entre flics et gangsters, Lander ne voyait plus guère de différence entre les deux. Peu lui importait dans quel camp les gens croyaient qu’il était – à ceci près que si l’un de ces deux camps venait à penser qu’il appartenait à l’autre, cela importerait au plus haut point. Dave Lander ne dormait jamais.
[...] Lander se demanda, pas pour la première fois, s’il était vraiment en sécurité à naviguer ainsi entre deux mondes, et si l’un de ces deux mondes l’aiderait, le moment venu, quand quelqu’un déciderait de le renvoyer, lui, là d’où il venait.
[...] Peu à peu, les choses avaient dégénéré, jusqu’à devenir incontrôlables. Vous volez quelques trucs ici, tabassez quelques personnes là. Et sans vous en rendre compte, vous voilà devenu plus gangster que flic.
[...] Les dimensions de son existence se réduisaient à vue d’œil : il vivait chaque instant en s’attendant à voir surgir un tueur à gages au coin de la rue. Chaque voiture dans laquelle il montait pouvait être celle dont il ne redescendrait jamais. »
Dans le bouquin, Dave Lander est à bord de l'une des deux voitures du fameux braquage qui ouvre le roman.
En parallèle, on va suivre une adolescente Adlyn 'Addie' Rowe, sa sœur Nees, leur mère Stevie.
Le père, Reggie Rowe, était le postier complice du gang, la taupe qui avait rencardé les braqueurs : on ne le reverra plus.
Comme dans son précédent roman, Dominic Nolan n'hésite pas à dérouler une intrigue sur plusieurs années : nous allons découvrir le Londres d'après-guerre, ses rues bombardées, ses immeubles en ruine, ses terrains devenus vagues. Une ville meurtrie par le Blitz qui se prépare à de grandes transformations, ce qui aiguise tous les appétits.
« La ville était pleine d’endroits de ce genre. De petites zones d’anéantissement où des bâtiments s’étaient écroulés et personne n’avait eu les moyens ou le cœur de les remplacer.
[...] Même si personne ne pensait plus trop à la guerre, ses cicatrices étaient partout.
[...] Les architectes du London City Council ont d’ambitieux projets. La moitié de la ville a déjà été rasée par la guerre, l’autre moitié ne demande qu’à l’être. De nouveaux boulevards plus larges menant jusqu’au cœur de la ville, adaptés à l’ère de l’automobile. »
Dans ce Londres délaissé par la middle-class, arrive une vague d'immigration venue de Jamaïque et de Trinidad avec son calypso. Le père de la jeune Adlyn vient de ces colonies britanniques et la famille vit pauvrement dans « une petite ruelle près des docks, une « rue domino » comme on disait, où familles blanches et noires vivaient côte à côte. »
Mais l'extrême droite et les gangs de Teddy Boys n'écoutent pas la même musique et si les premières pages s'ouvraient en mai 1952, l'intrigue va courir jusqu'aux émeutes raciales de 1958 pour nous faire découvrir tout un pan méconnu de l'histoire londonienne et britannique.
Adossé à tout ce 'background' historique, Dominic Nolan déploie sur près de cinq cent pages une fresque passionnante qui offre de multiples niveaux de lecture : les portraits de multiples personnages complexes et fouillés, l'urbanisation et ses trafics, l'immigration et le racisme, le suspense d'une captivante histoire de gangsters et même la chaleur humaine et les difficultés des familles de ce petit peuple londonien qui habitait des quartiers comme l'ancien Notting Hill, bien avant que Hugh Grant ait le coup de foudre pour Julia Roberts.
November 12, 2024
Set in 1950’s London, a place of devastation, still lying in ruins after the bombings of the war. Families have been left homeless, loved ones have been lost and poverty is rife. Addie and Ness are sisters; their mother Stevie not coping well at all. Addie’s father says he’s working nights, but Addie isn’t so sure and when he doesn’t come home, the whole family is left in penury and Stevie takes to drink in a big way.
This is a story of grim times and the richness of the descriptions bring a vivid evocation of the times. Brutal, harsh, full of racism, the criminals and the thugs come together to unleash a new onslaught of violence in slum ridden London. The language will make you cringe but Nolan tells it as it was in his version of what happened in the aftermath of the biggest unsolved case London has seen to date.
A post office van has been held up and robbed in the middle of the night in a violent attack. The van contained many valuable mail bags and the police have no clues. White City tells the story of what happened after that robbery and the impact that it had on those affected.
This brutal robbery was the brainchild of Billy Hill, head of the local crime family. Teddy ‘Mother’, Nunn is his enforcer. Mother is terrifying; there is nothing and no-one he will not sacrifice in order to get the job done and his clean up method is certainly final. No-one will so much as look at him sideways, lest they feel the brunt of his anger. Dave Lander is ex-forces and knows his way around a gun. Now he is up to his neck in the gangster way of life. Dave is caught between a rock and a hard place. He may want out, but he knows there is no way out of this gang for him and so he must be sure to do Mother’s bidding just to keep himself in favour.
Together with Dave Lander and Addie, we meet Claire and her sons Ray and Joe. Claire’s husband is also missing and she fears for her sons growing up in the heart of gangland London. Encompassing the meeting of gangsters and the posh clubbers of seedy Soho to the slums of Notting Dale and Brixton, Nolan has painted a wide canvas on which to roll out his often grotesque characters. His story follows the fate of the key characters and their families through the period from 1952 to 1958, culminating in the Notting Hill riots of that summer when so many West Indians were brutally attacked.
Linked by poverty, slum dwelling and crime, we follow these fractured families alongside the corrupt and the violent as the police and the gangsters more often than not collude and occasionally collide.
Dominic Nolan’s language vibrates with authenticity though the colloquial racism is hard to hear. The pent-up nature of the frustration and violence almost makes the pages crackle.
In Soho it’s all two piece suits for two bit hoods and the glitterati partying to excess while mingling with the well kitted out gangstas. Nolan contrasts that behaviour with the very real problems of poverty, with families in hock to loan sharks; forced into crime or degradation to survive. He draws his characters so vibrantly and when there is a small slice of compassion or kindness, it shines fleetingly like a beacon of light in a quagmire before it is rapidly extinguished. In this remarkable book there is betrayal and there is love. There are tender moments to touch your heart, and there is redemption.
Verdict: Dominic Nolan reflects 1950’s London; full of dark shadows and forbidden places, claustrophobic and menacing. This is a version of London where angels tread with trepidation. White City is a tour -de-force, combining strong characters with writing that excels. Nolan is a master wordsmith and he writes with razor-sharp clarity and precision, bringing scenes and characters to life. I really can’t recommend this book too highly. Go buy it now.
This is a story of grim times and the richness of the descriptions bring a vivid evocation of the times. Brutal, harsh, full of racism, the criminals and the thugs come together to unleash a new onslaught of violence in slum ridden London. The language will make you cringe but Nolan tells it as it was in his version of what happened in the aftermath of the biggest unsolved case London has seen to date.
A post office van has been held up and robbed in the middle of the night in a violent attack. The van contained many valuable mail bags and the police have no clues. White City tells the story of what happened after that robbery and the impact that it had on those affected.
This brutal robbery was the brainchild of Billy Hill, head of the local crime family. Teddy ‘Mother’, Nunn is his enforcer. Mother is terrifying; there is nothing and no-one he will not sacrifice in order to get the job done and his clean up method is certainly final. No-one will so much as look at him sideways, lest they feel the brunt of his anger. Dave Lander is ex-forces and knows his way around a gun. Now he is up to his neck in the gangster way of life. Dave is caught between a rock and a hard place. He may want out, but he knows there is no way out of this gang for him and so he must be sure to do Mother’s bidding just to keep himself in favour.
Together with Dave Lander and Addie, we meet Claire and her sons Ray and Joe. Claire’s husband is also missing and she fears for her sons growing up in the heart of gangland London. Encompassing the meeting of gangsters and the posh clubbers of seedy Soho to the slums of Notting Dale and Brixton, Nolan has painted a wide canvas on which to roll out his often grotesque characters. His story follows the fate of the key characters and their families through the period from 1952 to 1958, culminating in the Notting Hill riots of that summer when so many West Indians were brutally attacked.
Linked by poverty, slum dwelling and crime, we follow these fractured families alongside the corrupt and the violent as the police and the gangsters more often than not collude and occasionally collide.
Dominic Nolan’s language vibrates with authenticity though the colloquial racism is hard to hear. The pent-up nature of the frustration and violence almost makes the pages crackle.
In Soho it’s all two piece suits for two bit hoods and the glitterati partying to excess while mingling with the well kitted out gangstas. Nolan contrasts that behaviour with the very real problems of poverty, with families in hock to loan sharks; forced into crime or degradation to survive. He draws his characters so vibrantly and when there is a small slice of compassion or kindness, it shines fleetingly like a beacon of light in a quagmire before it is rapidly extinguished. In this remarkable book there is betrayal and there is love. There are tender moments to touch your heart, and there is redemption.
Verdict: Dominic Nolan reflects 1950’s London; full of dark shadows and forbidden places, claustrophobic and menacing. This is a version of London where angels tread with trepidation. White City is a tour -de-force, combining strong characters with writing that excels. Nolan is a master wordsmith and he writes with razor-sharp clarity and precision, bringing scenes and characters to life. I really can’t recommend this book too highly. Go buy it now.
November 11, 2024
White City is a powerful novel set in 1950's London,specifically the sleazy Soho of that era and the bombsites and squalor of Notting Dale and Brixton.
Mixing fact and fiction,both in its storyline and cast of characters ,White City is often bleak and violent, sometimes brutal, just like the city and times it's set in.
The tale begins with the real life East Castle postal van robbery in 1952,organised by crime lord Billy Hill. Led by enforcer Terry "Mother" Nunn the robbers carefully dispose of any evidence,to the extent that 2 families are left wondering why the man of the house hasn't come home. Another trusted Hill crony,Dave Lander who was on the robbery,finds himself with torn loyalties in more ways than one.
As in the author's previous book,the superb "Vine Street" ,London is almost a character in its own right with the rough working class areas and Soho teeming with criminals,many of them policemen,the remains of aristocracy slumming it and intent on blowing their family fortunes,celebrities and even a member of the Royal Family indulging in the excesses that were well-known but never reported at the time. The story moves on to it's finale in 1958 and a resolution to the tortured Lander's guilt and the Notting Hill race riots.
This is an excellent book very much in the style of James Ellroy with its gritty action , deeply flawed characters and the very worst of human nature. The struggles of the "little people", those living in the slums, those that people like Hill barely noticed and his cronies preyed on and exploited are expertly drawn and some of those characters are the real heroes in a story full of crooked policemen , the greedy,sordid and degenerate ranks of the upper classes and the self-styled criminal elite who are shown for what they really were.
Mixing fact and fiction,both in its storyline and cast of characters ,White City is often bleak and violent, sometimes brutal, just like the city and times it's set in.
The tale begins with the real life East Castle postal van robbery in 1952,organised by crime lord Billy Hill. Led by enforcer Terry "Mother" Nunn the robbers carefully dispose of any evidence,to the extent that 2 families are left wondering why the man of the house hasn't come home. Another trusted Hill crony,Dave Lander who was on the robbery,finds himself with torn loyalties in more ways than one.
As in the author's previous book,the superb "Vine Street" ,London is almost a character in its own right with the rough working class areas and Soho teeming with criminals,many of them policemen,the remains of aristocracy slumming it and intent on blowing their family fortunes,celebrities and even a member of the Royal Family indulging in the excesses that were well-known but never reported at the time. The story moves on to it's finale in 1958 and a resolution to the tortured Lander's guilt and the Notting Hill race riots.
This is an excellent book very much in the style of James Ellroy with its gritty action , deeply flawed characters and the very worst of human nature. The struggles of the "little people", those living in the slums, those that people like Hill barely noticed and his cronies preyed on and exploited are expertly drawn and some of those characters are the real heroes in a story full of crooked policemen , the greedy,sordid and degenerate ranks of the upper classes and the self-styled criminal elite who are shown for what they really were.
November 10, 2024
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a free advance copy in return for an impartial review. This novel stood out to me as one to try as I love crime fiction and am interested in post-war London society in general. This is more of a thriller than your typical police procedural type crime novel and all the better for it. It is very readable and the seemly unrelated plot lines draw you in to the inevitable conclusion.
There’s a mix of true life and fiction, with the plot starting with the true crime of the 1952 Eastcastle Street post van robbery, which at the time was the biggest heist in British history, and there is a mix of real life and fictional characters too.
Two characters stand out for me - Dave Lander, the corrupt policeman unable to break out from his world and the circumstances that have shaped it, and Addie Rowe, a teenage girl hoping to get on in life by going into nursing. You’ll have to read it to see how this works out for both of them, and how their stories intertwine.
There is some brutal violence, so it’s buyer beware on that score. 1950s London really comes to life through the novel, and anyone familiar with Notting Hill and surrounds will find much to recognise. It’s also interesting to understand just how much of London was still in ruins long after the war. There’s also some pretty offensive language, so just watch out for that too. I’m sure much worse was heard at the time and the book only gives a flavour of it, but it’s still pretty shocking. As are the conditions people were forced to live in - worth remembering when dredging through the nostalgia-filled Facebook groups harking back to happier simpler times.
I would definitely recommend this and would be interested to read more of this author’s work.
There’s a mix of true life and fiction, with the plot starting with the true crime of the 1952 Eastcastle Street post van robbery, which at the time was the biggest heist in British history, and there is a mix of real life and fictional characters too.
Two characters stand out for me - Dave Lander, the corrupt policeman unable to break out from his world and the circumstances that have shaped it, and Addie Rowe, a teenage girl hoping to get on in life by going into nursing. You’ll have to read it to see how this works out for both of them, and how their stories intertwine.
There is some brutal violence, so it’s buyer beware on that score. 1950s London really comes to life through the novel, and anyone familiar with Notting Hill and surrounds will find much to recognise. It’s also interesting to understand just how much of London was still in ruins long after the war. There’s also some pretty offensive language, so just watch out for that too. I’m sure much worse was heard at the time and the book only gives a flavour of it, but it’s still pretty shocking. As are the conditions people were forced to live in - worth remembering when dredging through the nostalgia-filled Facebook groups harking back to happier simpler times.
I would definitely recommend this and would be interested to read more of this author’s work.
November 29, 2024
4-4.5*
The British Empire was in sharp decline before WW2, but WW2 put the finishing touch to that, without doubt. Rationing continued well into the 1950's and damage from bombing caused by Germany's attacks on London (and other UK cities), left whole swathes of Britain's cities in ruins.
Little wonder then that criminal enterprises thrived during this period. This is the setting for White City.
How to rid oneself of pesky human bodies:
Putting down her bucket, Mrs Cruik dragged the sacks into a tilting shed in the corner beneath the covering closing the door behind her.
Mother winked. "Avis there prepares the finest ground meats imaginable. Perfectly seasoned and spiced and piped into skins to make the king of sausages.
'I'll stick to porridge for a spell,',' said Lander.
Dominic Nolan has a way with words. Almost Chandler-esque. With a dollop of Hammett. And a soupçon of Derek Raymond's Factory series, for it's gritty, casual brutality.
Nothing wasn't an absence. When you had nothing then nothing was everywhere, the world teemed with it, a fullness of nothing.
and;
>A train pulled in and the glass in the window rattled thrillingly.
'You'll get used to that,' she said.
It was the kind of room in which you could come to terms with your own mortality.
I recommend reading this book. I'll be looking at Nolan's other books in due course.
The British Empire was in sharp decline before WW2, but WW2 put the finishing touch to that, without doubt. Rationing continued well into the 1950's and damage from bombing caused by Germany's attacks on London (and other UK cities), left whole swathes of Britain's cities in ruins.
Little wonder then that criminal enterprises thrived during this period. This is the setting for White City.
How to rid oneself of pesky human bodies:
Putting down her bucket, Mrs Cruik dragged the sacks into a tilting shed in the corner beneath the covering closing the door behind her.
Mother winked. "Avis there prepares the finest ground meats imaginable. Perfectly seasoned and spiced and piped into skins to make the king of sausages.
'I'll stick to porridge for a spell,',' said Lander.
Dominic Nolan has a way with words. Almost Chandler-esque. With a dollop of Hammett. And a soupçon of Derek Raymond's Factory series, for it's gritty, casual brutality.
Nothing wasn't an absence. When you had nothing then nothing was everywhere, the world teemed with it, a fullness of nothing.
and;
>A train pulled in and the glass in the window rattled thrillingly.
'You'll get used to that,' she said.
It was the kind of room in which you could come to terms with your own mortality.
I recommend reading this book. I'll be looking at Nolan's other books in due course.
August 15, 2024
Briefly - Much to like here but not this author's best book for me. 3.5/5
In full
1950s London, rationing, ruins and racial prejudice. Throw in quite a cast of gangsters minor and major, and you have the setting for White City by Dominic Nolan. Initially we meet two young sisters, Addie and Ness (and their mother Stevie) and life is quite hard particularly when your father goes missing. Then there is a far more adult scene; it's four in the morning and there is a violent attack on a post office van carrying money and the aftermath of that. Part of that aftermath involves Dave Lander and "Mother" (who is anything other than motherly and not female!). This story is quite brutally violent at times.
The consequences of the successful blag on the post office van are wide ranging and are at the core of this book. People are missing and we get to know some of the families affected. We've already met Addie and Ness and we also get to know Claire, whose husband is missing, her son Ray and her brother Joe who is suspicious of Mother. I guess few people in this are exactly what they first appear to be. Dave Lander would be a good example of this and we hear that "Dave Lander never slept".
I found this a somewhat complex story and it took me a while to get to grips with it. In part this may be because of the language used which is probably authentic London gangs 50s style. Worth noting too is the fact that some language was used in this era that would definitely be considered offensive now.
For me the book has a really good feel of post war London. I liked the way that historical events and facts were woven into the story. A number of the characters a quite rich - I would call both Dave and Addie that. However I really did find it hard to like anyone in this. No one really gripped me and my attention was not held at times. I do remember the writer's way with rich colloquial language from his previous London historical book, Vine Street. However Vine Street held me in a way that this one did not.
Note - I received an advance digital copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair review
In full
1950s London, rationing, ruins and racial prejudice. Throw in quite a cast of gangsters minor and major, and you have the setting for White City by Dominic Nolan. Initially we meet two young sisters, Addie and Ness (and their mother Stevie) and life is quite hard particularly when your father goes missing. Then there is a far more adult scene; it's four in the morning and there is a violent attack on a post office van carrying money and the aftermath of that. Part of that aftermath involves Dave Lander and "Mother" (who is anything other than motherly and not female!). This story is quite brutally violent at times.
The consequences of the successful blag on the post office van are wide ranging and are at the core of this book. People are missing and we get to know some of the families affected. We've already met Addie and Ness and we also get to know Claire, whose husband is missing, her son Ray and her brother Joe who is suspicious of Mother. I guess few people in this are exactly what they first appear to be. Dave Lander would be a good example of this and we hear that "Dave Lander never slept".
I found this a somewhat complex story and it took me a while to get to grips with it. In part this may be because of the language used which is probably authentic London gangs 50s style. Worth noting too is the fact that some language was used in this era that would definitely be considered offensive now.
For me the book has a really good feel of post war London. I liked the way that historical events and facts were woven into the story. A number of the characters a quite rich - I would call both Dave and Addie that. However I really did find it hard to like anyone in this. No one really gripped me and my attention was not held at times. I do remember the writer's way with rich colloquial language from his previous London historical book, Vine Street. However Vine Street held me in a way that this one did not.
Note - I received an advance digital copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair review
April 3, 2025
An equal amount of things to like and dislike in this complex book, merging fact and fiction. Real people and made up characters.
Dislike - dialogue led and in the early pages, I thought I was reading Big Vern from the viz. An overuse of Cockney criminal patios. There is no central character - or indeed anyone you can really root for. We have at least three different families and I found it quite troublesome identifying with any or working out how they interacted with each other.
Like - 1950s London was especially well drawn, complete with the gangsters hardened by their war experiences. Something I hadn't really considered before. At times, the book is very engaging. At others, pages slip by in a blur. So I can only guess this is me not giving full 100% concentration. Which is hard when you do half of your reading on public transport. The real life characters (and original robbery) are fascinating. One of books you can use for inspiration to look into history. Lady Docker, previously unheard, will stick in the memory for a long time.
Also billed as a crime book. I would say this is false from the publishers (and Ian Rankin!). More historical fiction from where there is a crime.
So will I go back to Nolan. Tough one. Possibly.
Dislike - dialogue led and in the early pages, I thought I was reading Big Vern from the viz. An overuse of Cockney criminal patios. There is no central character - or indeed anyone you can really root for. We have at least three different families and I found it quite troublesome identifying with any or working out how they interacted with each other.
Like - 1950s London was especially well drawn, complete with the gangsters hardened by their war experiences. Something I hadn't really considered before. At times, the book is very engaging. At others, pages slip by in a blur. So I can only guess this is me not giving full 100% concentration. Which is hard when you do half of your reading on public transport. The real life characters (and original robbery) are fascinating. One of books you can use for inspiration to look into history. Lady Docker, previously unheard, will stick in the memory for a long time.
Also billed as a crime book. I would say this is false from the publishers (and Ian Rankin!). More historical fiction from where there is a crime.
So will I go back to Nolan. Tough one. Possibly.
November 20, 2024
White City is a tour de force; what a story. I’ve recently been reading biographies of Ruth Ellis and Bruce Reynolds the great train robber. Both were significant figures in London in the 1950s and White City provides such a plausible fictional narrative to their world, London was recovering from the devastation of the war and many families were struggling to survive. Crime was rife and there was an underworld with very strict social mores. The central characters in this story inhabit this world which is brought so vividly to life by language, violence, racism and brutality. Against a backdrop of deprivation and a totally dysfunctional family, a Post Office heist is the lynchpin for Dominic Nolan to explore a very different world. West Indians are pitched against teddy boys, and old scores are settled in the midst of Notting Hill and Brixton slums. Exciting stuff, so well written and a real insight into a myopic world. Loved it.
December 24, 2024
1952 and as the city of London welcomes a new Queen and tries to recover from the war, an audacious robbery takes place. David Lander, from a long-line of police, is working undercover with the gang that committed the robbery but is forced to do things that cross a line. He is fitted up on other charges and sentenced to jail. Meanwhile Addie is trying to look after her sister and her mother when their father disappears. Six years later and their home in West London is the site of violence and racism.
This is a magnificent book, it's long but utterly gripping. There are different stories here that wrap around each other, organised crime, mental health, racism etc. There are topics relevant to the time such as the race riots and slum housing but they are woven into a narrative effortlessly.
This is a magnificent book, it's long but utterly gripping. There are different stories here that wrap around each other, organised crime, mental health, racism etc. There are topics relevant to the time such as the race riots and slum housing but they are woven into a narrative effortlessly.
August 15, 2024
London, post War 1950s, Robbery, Gangsters and Race wars make up this excellent standalone from the brilliant Dominic Nolan.
I read Vine Street when that was released and whilst I don’t think is quite in the elite category that particular books sits in, it is very very good reading on its own merits.
The story follows a cast of characters, some louder than life Guy Ritchie style gangsters and some more likeable and believable in Addy, a young West Indian girl trying to hold her small family together.
It’s paced well, at times language needs re-reading as it’s written in the style of the times, but it all comes together for a thoroughly good read with some heart breaking moment but also some poignant ones to make you smile to.
It’s a fine effort from a superb author.
I read Vine Street when that was released and whilst I don’t think is quite in the elite category that particular books sits in, it is very very good reading on its own merits.
The story follows a cast of characters, some louder than life Guy Ritchie style gangsters and some more likeable and believable in Addy, a young West Indian girl trying to hold her small family together.
It’s paced well, at times language needs re-reading as it’s written in the style of the times, but it all comes together for a thoroughly good read with some heart breaking moment but also some poignant ones to make you smile to.
It’s a fine effort from a superb author.
November 10, 2024
I loved Vine Street, it being one of my top reads of 2021.
White City takes us back to 1950's London and meet two young sisters, Addie and Ness. Life is hard already, but when there father goes missing, Addies is left picking up the pieces looking after little sister Ness and supporting her mum Stevie. At the other, more brutal end of it is Dave Lander and 'Mother' who are dealing with the fallout of a violent post office van robbery.
This is a complex story and took me a little time to get into, but it was very readable and ultimately a compelling drama.
White City takes us back to 1950's London and meet two young sisters, Addie and Ness. Life is hard already, but when there father goes missing, Addies is left picking up the pieces looking after little sister Ness and supporting her mum Stevie. At the other, more brutal end of it is Dave Lander and 'Mother' who are dealing with the fallout of a violent post office van robbery.
This is a complex story and took me a little time to get into, but it was very readable and ultimately a compelling drama.
July 30, 2025
Have to say, my initial reaction on beginning this was disappointment. Although it is a while since I read 'Past Life', my memory was for an exciting approach to writing, whereas this seemed very much a blokey, gangster laden book. On finishing it I had to acknowledge that the handling of a vast crowd of colourful , London-located 1950s characters (with the help, I assume, of a well-thumbed London A-Z of at that time) was supremely impressive, but I think I need to read it again to get the best of it.
October 5, 2025
Fictionalised version of true events in the early 1950s, in the wake of one of the largest robberies in UK history pre the Great Train Robbery and Brink's-Mat.
The characters based on real life villains (yes there were villains in those days officially) have no redeeming features to grasp on to for a large portion of the book at least, whilst the fictional characters aren't sufficiently diverting.
The characters based on real life villains (yes there were villains in those days officially) have no redeeming features to grasp on to for a large portion of the book at least, whilst the fictional characters aren't sufficiently diverting.
March 11, 2025
Great read. The plot moves seamlessly between three stories about distinctly different lives. Anyone who has lived in west london will vividly picture the area as the author brings you through the streets of London. As detailed as left up this road turning right onto the Grove. Anyone into the usual crime thrillers will thoroughly enjoy this one.
March 28, 2025
This was my first book by this author, although I have heard very good things about his work, particularly 'Vine Street'.
' white city' is Dominic Nolan"s latest novel. It's a pure crime novel rather than a thriller or a detective novel, bloody and violent. Complex and so many characters!
I wouldn't necessarily say I 'enjoyed' it but I thought the book was really well written.
' white city' is Dominic Nolan"s latest novel. It's a pure crime novel rather than a thriller or a detective novel, bloody and violent. Complex and so many characters!
I wouldn't necessarily say I 'enjoyed' it but I thought the book was really well written.
September 8, 2025
Very well written and very informative and interesting however I found it quite slow. The end section was good though. I would have preferred it if everything else had been a condensed prologue and it had started from there. The ending was very unsatisfying too. I loved Vine Street but found this a bit disappointing.
January 25, 2025
A brilliant brilliant read.
Historical crime noir that takes you right into the heart of it, gritty, realistic, peppered with genuine reality and speculative fictional elements.
The characters pop, the violence is real, the story itself is incredibly immersive.
Loved it so so much.
Historical crime noir that takes you right into the heart of it, gritty, realistic, peppered with genuine reality and speculative fictional elements.
The characters pop, the violence is real, the story itself is incredibly immersive.
Loved it so so much.
May 24, 2025
An epic story of two families in post war London. Depicts a London run by gangs, violent and racist. Extreme poverty particularly amongst the West Indian community. A tough read but well worth the effort.
October 25, 2025
White City by Dominic Nolan (November 7 2024). Multiple stories of London in the 1950s. The lives of a black family, an undercover officer and the gangsters at the centre of a major robbery intertwine. Very good.
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Want to read
September 29, 2024Jane Casey said so
Read
December 24, 2024DNF
October 23, 2025
excellent, although a little more bloated than Vine Street. this epic of crime in 1950s London has Scorcese vibes
January 16, 2025
Don’t often read long books but really liked Vine Street and was looking forward to
Dominic Nolan's' next.
Few books live up to the hype but hands down this actually is the best novel of the year transcending the crime genre, establishing Mr Nolan as a kind of hardcore Dickens and putting him firmly on everyone's must read list.
Dominic Nolan's' next.
Few books live up to the hype but hands down this actually is the best novel of the year transcending the crime genre, establishing Mr Nolan as a kind of hardcore Dickens and putting him firmly on everyone's must read list.
January 10, 2025
Dominic Nolan’s White City is a gritty, evocative story set in 1950s London, a city in ruins after World War II. While many crime novels set in the city focus on the East End, here we’re up west, in and around Notting Dale, Soho, White City itself and down to Brixton. And things get underway near Paddington, where the biggest heist in British history takes place.
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