Bright Young Things discussion

London is one of my current obsessions and I'd love to do some reading about it in our time period.

What are your favourite books about or set in London during our period? - Fiction or non-fiction. I'm thinking of either novels written or set during the period, histories of London covering the first half of the twentieth century, or non-fiction books which have London as their main location.

What did you enjoy about these books? What aspects of London did they explore? Do you think London can come across as a character in its own right in these books?

Hi Ruth, I share your passion for books about London - and not just from our time period. However here are some classic books from our era, I've linked to my reviews which should answer your questions, however if you want to know more about any of them just post a reply on here.


Hangover Square by Patrick Hamilton

Click here to read my review

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London Belongs to Me by Norman Collins

Click here to read my review

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Fear and Loathing in Fitzrovia: The Bizarre Life of Writer, Actor, Soho Raconteur Julian Maclaren-Ross by Paul Willetts

Click here to read my review

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Fowlers End by Gerald Kersh

Click here to read my review

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It Always Rains on Sunday by Arthur La Bern

Click here to read my review

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The Gilt Kid by James Curtis

Click here to read my review

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The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters

Click here to read my review

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Bermondsey Boy: Memories Of A Forgotten World by Tommy Steele

Click here to read my review

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King Dido by Alexander Baron

Click here to read my review

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The Love-charm of Bombs: Restless Lives in the Second World War by Lara Feigel

Click here to read my review

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I've loads more suggestions from outside our time period too - but that should keep you going for a while. Please keep us informed with other books that you come across about London. It's such a rich and varied topic that endlessly inspires great writing - as do all great cities.

Over at The Patrick Hamilton Appreciation Society there's a thread on London books and writers. Click here to read it.

I've only included one book by Patrick Hamilton but he is a quintessential London writer and there are other essential London books from our era in his bibliography especially the Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky trilogy and Craven House.

Good luck Ruth.

It includes our time period, in addition to several other moments in history but I would suggest

Wonderful! Thanks so much Nigeyb - lots to explore with that list, and the Edward Rutherford book looks interesting Andrew - I haven't read anything by him before and I'm fascinated to know how he creates a narrative thread spanning 2000 years!

I particularly enjoyed the London thread on the Patrick Hamilton group.

And this:

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2003...

C L R James, Letters From London.

...and if you want to know what London sounded like back then have a listen on here:

http://www.soundsurvey.org.uk/index.p...

* Interesting audio link Roisin

Ruth wrote: "Wonderful! Thanks so much Nigeyb - lots to explore with that list"

My pleasure. I look forward to learning where your London reading takes you and how you react to whatever you choose to read.

Roisin wrote: "And this:

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2003..."

I haven't come across C L R James before, Roisin. Looks really interesting, thank-you.

Roisin wrote: "...and if you want to know what London sounded like back then have a listen on here:

http://www.soundsurvey.org.uk/index.p..."

Fascinating - some were very poignant, particularly the Lavender Seller.

Yes I agree! The recordings some of them are quite touching. I came across it, totally by accident looking up books from our period. : )

C L R James:

http://www.wcml.org.uk/our-collection...

Roisin wrote: "C L R James:

http://www.wcml.org.uk/our-collection......"

Thanks Roisin - what a fascinating character. Marxism and cricket - now that's an interesting combination!

Andrew wrote: "It includes our time period, in addition to several other moments in history but I would suggest "


I haven't read London but if it's as good as his book Paris it's definitely worth reading.

Experience London in 1931 through reading William Kent's guide: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

Looks great ^




I have In Search Of London by H.V. Morton on my shelf waiting for an appropriate moment. If it's anything like In Search Of England then I'll be in for a treat and suspect it might be another one to add to Ruth's TBR London list



Greg, of this parish, gave it a fulsome, five star review. Well worth a read it is too...

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Nigeyb wrote: "Looks great ^

I have In Search Of London by H.V. Morton on my shelf waiting for an appropriate moment. If it's anything like In Search Of England then ..."

"In Search of London" was first published in 1951.

HV Morton wrote more than just the one book on our capital city; namely "The Heart of London", "The Spell of London", "The Nights of London", "HV Morton's London", "A London Year", "Guide To London", "Ghosts of London" . I don't know how much material (if any) he might have reused.

Lynaia wrote: "Andrew wrote: "It includes our time period, in addition to several other moments in history but I would suggest "


I haven't read London but if it's as good as his book Par..."

My opinion is that it's better than 'Paris'. :-)

Might have look for that book Andrew. Thanks!

Might have look for that book Andrew. Thanks!

Just come across this site which has classics section many of which fit our period and are set in parts of London.

http://www.london-books.co.uk/index.html

Oh and there is an interesting drinking club attached to these publishers that might be Nigeyb's kind of thing, called The Flag Club, who like works by many authors from our period besides Maclaren-Ross. : )

^ I love London Books. Everything I have read published by them has been excellent.

Excellent! I'll check out the book list on there.

London Under: The Secret History Beneath the Streets by Peter Ackroyd is one I have been reading. This is about the rivers that have apparently been buried over the years. And one day I hope to get back to this same author's London - The Biography. Very interesting. I may still be on the very early days of London, however.

Thanks for all the recent additional suggestions -I've got a good list to start working with now! I think it's worth keeping our period as the core of my list but not worrying too much if I stray outside it as I think there are so many connections to be made.

Great thread here and some wonderful suggestions. I always think Graham Greene writes very atmospherically about London, for instance in The Confidential Agent and It's a Battlefield - but you have plenty to be going on with!

I'd second Nigeyb's recommendation of Hangover Square - a truly excellent book. Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky by Hamilton is set in a similar London pub environment and also very good.

I'd add Down and Out in Paris and London by Orwell to the list of recommendations. Only half of it relates to London but it's superb and shows a sadder, darker side of the city.

Hangover Square is a wonderful book, thanks Lori for the other Hamilton recommendation.