“What are the best books about & set in London?” We looked at 330 of the top London books, aggregating and ranking them so we could answer that very question!
The top 44 books, all appearing on 2 or more “Best Lond” book lists, are ranked below by how many times they appear. The remaining 275+ titles, as well as the lists we used, are in alphabetical order on the bottom of the page.
Happy Scrolling!
Lists It Appears On:
“Winston Smith toes the Party line, rewriting history to satisfy the demands of the Ministry of Truth. With each lie he writes, Winston grows to hate the Party that seeks power for its own sake and persecutes those who dare to commit thoughtcrimes. But as he starts to think for himself, Winston can’t escape the fact that Big Brother is always watching…
A startling and haunting vision of the world, 1984 is so powerful that it is completely convincing from start to finish. No one can deny the influence of this novel, its hold on the imaginations of multiple generations of readers, or the resiliency of its admonitions—a legacy that seems only to grow with the passage of time.”
Lists It Appears On:
From one of our most important contemporary Chinese authors: a novel of language and love that tells one young Chinese woman’s story of her journey to the West—and her attempts to understand the language, and the man, she adores. Zhuang—or “Z,” to tongue-tied foreigners—has come to London to study English, but finds herself adrift, trapped in a cycle of cultural gaffes and grammatical mishaps. Then she meets an Englishman who changes everything, leading her into a world of self-discovery. She soon realizes that, in the West, “love” does not always mean the same as in China, and that you can learn all the words in the English language and still not understand your lover. And as the novel progresses with steadily improving grammar and vocabulary, Z’s evolving voice makes her quest for comprehension all the more poignant. With sparkling wit, Xiaolu Guo has created an utterly original novel about identity and the cultural divide.
Lists It Appears On:
After Alison Temple discovers that her husband is cheating on her, she does what any jilted woman would do-she spray paints a nasty message for him on her wedding dress and takes a job with the detective firm that found him out. Being a researcher at the all-female Fitzgerald’s Bureau of Investigation in London is certainly a change of pace from her previous life, especially considering the characters Alison meets in the line of duty. There is her boss, the estimable Mrs. Fitzgerald; Taron, Alison’s eccentric best friend, who claims her mother is a witch; Jeff, her love-struck, poetry-writing neighbor; and last, but not least, her psychic postman. Clever, quirky, and infused with just a hint of magic, Alison Wonderland is a literary novel about a memorable heroine coping with the everyday complexities of modern life
Lists It Appears On:
“Bedlam!” The very name, derived from a nickname for the Bethlehem Hospital, conjures up graphic images of naked patients in filthy conditions, or parading untended wards deluded that they are Napoleon or Jesus Christ. This common image of madness can be traced to William Hogarth’s 1735 Rake’s Progress series, which depicts Bedlam as a freak show providing entertainment for Londoners between trips to the zoo, puppet shows, and public executions. That this is still the most powerful image of Bedlam, more than two centuries later, says much about the prevailing attitude to mental illness, although the Bedlam of the popular imagination is long gone. The hospital was relocated to the suburbs of Kent in 1930, and Sydney Smirke’s impressive Victorian building in Southwark took on a new role as the Imperial War Museum. Following the historical narrative structure of Necropolis, this history examines the capital’s treatment of the insane over the centuries, from the founding of Bethlehem Hospital in 1247 through the heyday of the great Victorian asylums to the more enlightened attitudes that prevail today.
Lists It Appears On:
For over a thousand years, England’s capital has been associated with desire, avarice and the sins of the flesh. In this text, Catharine Arnold turns her gaze to the city’s relationship with vice through the ages. She takes us on a journey through the fleshpots of London from earliest times to present day.
Lists It Appears On:
Becky Bloomwood has a fabulous flat in London’s trendiest neighborhood, a troupe of glamorous socialite friends, and a closet brimming with the season’s must-haves. The only trouble is, she can’t actually afford it—not any of it. Her job writing at Successful Saving magazine not only bores her to tears, it doesn’t pay much at all. And lately Becky’s been chased by dismal letters from the bank—letters with large red sums she can’t bear to read. She tries cutting back. But none of her efforts succeeds. Her only consolation is to buy herself something . . . just a little something.
Lists It Appears On:
Lists It Appears On:
Abandoned tunnels, derelict stations, old trackbeds and much more; all are included in “Do Not Alight Here”, an entertaining and informative book that guides the reader through London’s many remaining disused Underground and main line railway structures. They can be viewed in a series of 12 guided walks and short tube and train journeys, devised and investigated by the author, each of which takes in a sample of these forgotten and fascinating remains, with most of the entries illustrated with recently taken colour photographs.
Lists It Appears On:
This unusual fictional account, in good part autobiographical, narrates without self-pity and often with humor the adventures of a penniless British writer among the down-and-out of two great cities. In the tales of both cities we learn some sobering Orwellian truths about poverty and society.
Lists It Appears On:
“Rob is a pop music junkie who runs his own semi-failing record store. His girlfriend, Laura, has just left him for the guy upstairs, and Rob is both miserable and relieved. After all, could he have spent his life with someone who has a bad record collection? Rob seeks refuge in the company of the offbeat clerks at his store, who endlessly review their top five films; top five Elvis Costello songs; top five episodes of Cheers.
Rob tries dating a singer, but maybe it’s just that he’s always wanted to sleep with someone who has a record contract. Then he sees Laura again. And Rob begins to think that life with kids, marriage, barbecues, and soft rock CDs might not be so bad. “
Lists It Appears On:
The self-interested disregard of a dying woman’s bequest, an impulsive girl’s attempt to help an impoverished clerk, and the marriage between an idealist and a materialist — all intersect at a Hertfordshire estate called Howards End. The fate of this beloved country home symbolizes the future of England itself in E. M. Forster’s exploration of social, economic, and philosophical trends, as exemplified by three families: the Schlegels, symbolizing the idealistic and intellectual aspect of the upper classes; the Wilcoxes, representing upper-class pragmatism and materialism; and the Basts, embodying the aspirations of the lower classes.
Lists It Appears On:
H. V. Morton turns his traveler’s intuition and his reporter’s eye for detail to the city that has fascinated him since childhood—London past, present, and timeless. He explores the City and the Temple, Covent Garden, SoHo, and all the “submerged villages beneath the flood of bricks and mortar,” uncovering layer upon layer of London’s history. Morton follows the thread of imagination back and forth across the city, tracing unforgettable scenes: the Emperor Claudius leading his war elephants across the Thames. . .the grisly executions at the Tower. . .the world of Shakespeare, Dickens, and Queen Victoria. . .and the shattered yet defiant city of the Blitz as well as the postwar London of “ruins and hatless crowds.” Morton’s quest for London’s heart reveals how its daily life is rooted in a past that is closer and more familiar than we might think, making the book as informative, entertaining, and rich in human color today as when it was written fifty years ago.
Lists It Appears On:
“Ten-year-old Charlotte Bowen has been abducted, and if Luxford does not admit publicly to having fathered her, she will die. But Charlotte’s existence is Luxford’s most fiercely guarded secret, and acknowledging her as his child will throw more than one life and career into chaos. Luxford knows that the story of Charlotte’s paternity could make him a laughingstock and reveal to his beautiful wife and son the lie he’s lived for a decade. Yet it’s not only Luxford’s reputation that’s on the line: it’s also the reputation—and career—of Charlotte Bowen’s mother. For she is Undersecretary of State for the Home Office, one of the most high-profile Junior Ministers and quite possibly the next Margaret Thatcher.
Knowing that her political future hangs in the balance, Eve Bowen refuses to let Luxford damage her career by printing the story or calling the police. So the editor turns to forensic scientist Simon St. James for help. It’s a case that fills St. James with disquiet, however, for none of the players in the drama seem to react the way one would expect.
“
Lists It Appears On:
In the tradition of his phenomenal bestseller Sarum, Edward Rutherfurd now gives us a sweeping novel of London, a glorious pageant spanning two thousand years. He brings this vibrant city’s long and noble history alive through the ever-shifting fortunes, fates, and intrigues of half-a-dozen families, from the age of Julius Caesar to the twentieth century. Generation after generation, these families embody the passion, struggle, wealth, and verve of the greatest city in the world. . .
Lists It Appears On:
“In this vividly descriptive short study, Peter Ackroyd tunnels down through the geological layers of London, meeting the creatures that dwell in darkness and excavating the lore and mythology beneath the surface.
There is a Bronze Age trackway below the Isle of Dogs, Anglo-Saxon graves rest under St. Pauls, and the monastery of Whitefriars lies beneath Fleet Street. To go under London is to penetrate history, and Ackroyd’s book is filled with the stories unique to this underworld: the hydraulic device used to lower bodies into the catacombs in Kensal Green cemetery; the door in the plinth of the statue of Boadicea on Westminster Bridge that leads to a huge tunnel packed with cables for gas, water, and telephone; the sulphurous fumes on the Underground’s Metropolitan Line. Highly imaginative and delightfully entertaining, London Under is Ackroyd at his best.”
Lists It Appears On:
In Mrs. Dalloway, the novel on which the movie The Hours was based, Virginia Woolf details Clarissa Dalloway’s preparations for a party of which she is to be hostess, exploring the hidden springs of thought and action in one day of a woman’s life.
Lists It Appears On:
Traditional depictions of London at night have imagined a lawless orgy of depravity and pestilence. But is Britain’s capital after dark now as bland and unthreatening as an evening in any new provincial town? Sukhdev Sandhu journeys across the city to find out whether the London night really has been rendered insipid by street lighting and CCTV. Night Haunts seeks to reclaim the mystery and romance of the city—to revitalize the great myth of London for a new century.
Lists It Appears On:
Pygmalion is a play by George Bernard Shaw, named after a Greek mythological character. It was first presented on stage to the public in 1912. Professor of phonetics Henry Higgins makes a bet that he can train a bedraggled Cockney flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, to pass for a duchess at an ambassador’s garden party by teaching her to assume a veneer of gentility, the most important element of which, he believes, is impeccable speech. The play is a sharp lampoon of the rigid British class system of the day and a commentary on women’s independence. In ancient Greek mythology, Pygmalion fell in love with one of his sculptures, which then came to life.
Lists It Appears On:
Lists It Appears On:
“Originally published in 1951, The End of the Affair was acclaimed by William Faulkner as “”for me one of the best, most true and moving novels of my time, in anybody’s language.”” This Penguin Deluxe Edition features an introduction by Michael Gorra.
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.”
Lists It Appears On:
Like the May of Teck Club itself―”three times window shattered since 1940 but never directly hit”―its lady inhabitants do their best to act as if the world were back to normal: practicing elocution, and jostling over suitors and a single Schiaparelli gown. The novel’s harrowing ending reveals that the girls’ giddy literary and amorous peregrinations are hiding some tragically painful war wounds.
Lists It Appears On:
The London Encyclopaedia is the most comprehensive book on London ever published. In its first new edition in over ten years, completely revised and updated, it comprises some 6,000 entries, organised alphabetically, cross-referenced and supported by two large indexes – one for the 10,000 people mentioned in the text and one general – and is illustrated with over 500 drawings, prints and photographs. Everything of relevance to the history, culture, commerce and government of the capital is documented in this phenomenal book. From the very first settlements through to the skyline of today, The London Encyclopaedia comprehends all that is London.
Lists It Appears On:
Lists It Appears On:
Lists It Appears On:
This collection chronicles the fiction and non fiction classics by the greatest writers the world has ever known. The inclusion of both popular as well as overlooked pieces is pivotal to providing a broad and representative collection of classic works.
Lists It Appears On:
“On a crisp September day in 1944, Ethel Alleyne stood outside Tate & Lyle’s factory at Plaistow Wharf, on the shining curve of the Thames. Looking up at the giant gate, Ethel felt as if she’d been preparing for this moment all her life. She drew herself up to her full height and did her best to hide her nerves as she headed into the factory.
She was quite unprepared for the sight that met her eyes…’
During the Blitz and the years of rationing, the Sugar Girls kept Britain sweet. The work was back-breakingly hard, but Tate & Lyle was more than just a workplace – it was a community, a calling, a place of love and support and an uproarious, tribal part of the East End. From ambitious Ethel to irrepressible Gladys, lovelorn Lilian to fun-loving Joan – and Miss Smith, who tries to keep a workforce of flirtatious young men and women on the straight and narrow – this is an evocative, moving story of hunger, hardship and happiness. “
Lists It Appears On:
Lists It Appears On:
“The world’s most famous detective uses his celebrated skills of deduction in A Study in Scarlet, the tale that introduces Dr. John Watson. Recently discharged from the military, Watson takes a room with an amazing young man — the arrogant crime expert, Sherlock Holmes. Their investigation of a bizarre crime proves to be an auspicious beginning for one of the most illustrious crime-solving partnerships of all time.
The second tale, The Sign of Four, is an incredible story of greed and revenge in which Holmes and Watson accompany a beautiful young woman on a mission that leads to a terrifying, one-legged man in the dark heart of London.
A thrilling experience for legions of Holmes fans, these exciting tales will also serve as an excellent introduction to readers who have never made the acquaintance of this incomparable detective and his colleague.”
Lists It Appears On:
Aldous Huxley’s profoundly important classic of world literature, Brave New World is a searching vision of an unequal, technologically-advanced future where humans are genetically bred, socially indoctrinated, and pharmaceutically anesthetized to passively uphold an authoritarian ruling order–all at the cost of our freedom, full humanity, and perhaps also our souls. “A genius [who] who spent his life decrying the onward march of the Machine” (The New Yorker), Huxley was a man of incomparable talents: equally an artist, a spiritual seeker, and one of history’s keenest observers of human nature and civilization. Brave New World, his masterpiece, has enthralled and terrified millions of readers, and retains its urgent relevance to this day as both a warning to be heeded as we head into tomorrow and as thought-provoking, satisfying work of literature. Written in the shadow of the rise of fascism during the 1930s, Brave New World likewise speaks to a 21st-century world dominated by mass-entertainment, technology, medicine and pharmaceuticals, the arts of persuasion, and the hidden influence of elites.
Lists It Appears On:
Adrift in the grimy pubs of London at the outbreak of World War II, George Bone is hopelessly infatuated with Netta, a contemptuous, small-time actress. George suffers from occasional blackouts, during which one thing is horribly clear: he must murder Netta.
Lists It Appears On:
Also known as Dulcimer Street, Norman Collins’s London Belongs to Me is a Dickensian romp through working-class London on the eve of the Second World War. This Penguin Modern Classics edition includes an introduction by Ed Glinert, author of The London Compendium. It is 1938 and the prospect of war hangs over every London inhabitant. But the city doesn’t stop. Everywhere people continue to work, drink, fall in love, fight and struggle to get on in life. At the lodging-house at No.10 Dulcimer Street, Kennington, the buttoned-up clerk Mr Josser returns home with the clock he has received as a retirement gift. The other residents include faded actress Connie; tinned food-loving Mr Puddy; widowed landlady Mrs Vizzard (whose head is turned by her new lodger, a self-styled ‘Professor of Spiritualism’); and flashy young mechanic Percy Boon, whose foray into stolen cars descends into something much, much worse…
Lists It Appears On:
London Fields is Amis’s murder story for the end of the millennium. The murderee is Nicola Six, a “black hole” of sex and self-loathing intent on orchestrating her own extinction. The murderer may be Keith Talent, a violent lowlife whose only passions are pornography and darts. Or is the killer the rich, honorable, and dimly romantic Guy Clinch?
Lists It Appears On:
Richard Mayhew is a young London businessman with a good heart whose life is changed forever when he stops to help a bleeding girl—an act of kindness that plunges him into a world he never dreamed existed. Slipping through the cracks of reality, Richard lands in Neverwhere—a London of shadows and darkness, monsters and saints, murderers and angels that exists entirely in a subterranean labyrinth. Neverwhere is home to Door, the mysterious girl Richard helped in the London Above. Here in Neverwhere, Door is a powerful noblewoman who has vowed to find the evil agent of her family’s slaughter and thwart the destruction of this strange underworld kingdom. If Richard is ever to return to his former life and home, he must join Lady Door’s quest to save her world—and may well die trying.
Lists It Appears On:
In his triumphant new novel, Ian McEwan, the bestselling author of Atonement, follows an ordinary man through a Saturday whose high promise gradually turns nightmarish. Henry Perowne–a neurosurgeon, urbane, privileged, deeply in love with his wife and grown-up children–plans to play a game of squash, visit his elderly mother, and cook dinner for his family. But after a minor traffic accident leads to an unsettling confrontation, Perowne must set aside his plans and summon a strength greater than he knew he had in order to preserve the life that is dear to him.
Lists It Appears On:
49 Bankside is an 18th century house; the last survivor of what was once a long ribbon of houses overlooking the Thames. Rich with anecdote and colour, with celebrities from history, as well as ordinary people, this is social history at its most enjoyable.
Lists It Appears On:
Looking for a better life a group of West Indians face harsh conditions in London, including racism, bad weather, loneliness, and hard times
Lists It Appears On:
“After an arranged marriage to Chanu, a man twenty years older, Nazneen is taken to London, leaving her home and heart in the Bangladeshi village where she was born. Her new world is full of mysteries. How can she cross the road without being hit by a car (an operation akin to dodging raindrops in the monsoon)? What is the secret of her bullying neighbor Mrs. Islam? What is a Hell’s Angel? And how must she comfort the naïve and disillusioned Chanu?
As a good Muslim girl, Nazneen struggles to not question why things happen. She submits, as she must, to Fate and devotes herself to her husband and daughters. Yet to her amazement, she begins an affair with a handsome young radical, and her erotic awakening throws her old certainties into chaos.”
Lists It Appears On:
Bridget Jones’s Diary is the devastatingly self-aware, laugh-out-loud account of a year in the life of a thirty-something Singleton on a permanent doomed quest for self-improvement. Caught between the joys of Singleton fun, and the fear of dying alone and being found three weeks later half eaten by an Alsatian; tortured by Smug Married friends asking, “How’s your love life?” with lascivious, yet patronizing leers, Bridget resolves to: reduce the circumference of each thigh by 1.5 inches, visit the gym three times a week not just to buy a sandwich, form a functional relationship with a responsible adult and learn to program the VCR. With a blend of flighty charm, existential gloom, and endearing self-deprecation, Bridget Jones’s Diary has touched a raw nerve with millions of readers the world round.
Lists It Appears On:
In Londoners, acclaimed journalist Craig Taylor paints readers an epic portrait of today’s London that is as rich and lively as the city itself. In the style of Studs Terkel (Working, Hard Times, The Good War) and Dave Isay (Listening Is an Act of Love), Londoners offers up the stories, the gripes, the memories, and the dreams of those in the great and vibrant British metropolis who “love it, hate it, live it, left it, and long for it,” from a West End rickshaw driver to a Soldier of the Guard at Buckingham Palace to a recovering heroin addict seeing Big Ben for the very first time. Published just in time for the 2012 London Olympic Games, Londoners is a glorious literary celebration of one of the world’s truly great cities.
Lists It Appears On:
Lists It Appears On:
As the interminable case of ‘Jarndyce and Jarndyce’ grinds its way through the Court of Chancery, it draws together a disparate group of people: Ada and Richard Clare, whose inheritance is gradually being devoured by legal costs; Esther Summerson, a ward of court, whose parentage is a source of deepening mystery; the menacing lawyer Tulkinghorn; the determined sleuth Inspector Bucket; and even Jo, the destitute little crossing-sweeper. A savage, but often comic, indictment of a society that is rotten to the core, Bleak House is one of Dickens’s most ambitious novels, with a range that extends from the drawing rooms of the aristocracy to the poorest of London slums. This edition follows the first book edition of 1853, and includes all the original illustrations by ‘Phiz’, as well as appendices on the Chancery and spontaneous combustion. In his preface, Terry Eagleton examines characterisation and considers Bleak House as an early work of detective fiction.
Lists It Appears On:
Here are two thousand years of London’s history and folklore, its chroniclers and criminals and plain citizens, its food and drink and countless pleasures. Blackfriar’s and Charing Cross, Paddington and Bedlam. Westminster Abbey and St. Martin in the Fields. Cockneys and vagrants. Immigrants, peasants, and punks. The Plague, the Great Fire, the Blitz. London at all times of day and night, and in all kinds of weather. In well-chosen anecdotes, keen observations, and the words of hundreds of its citizens and visitors, Ackroyd reveals the ingenuity and grit and vitality of London. Through a unique thematic tour of the physical city and its inimitable soul, the city comes alive.
Lists It Appears On:
At the center of this invigorating novel are two unlikely friends, Archie Jones and Samad Iqbal. Hapless veterans of World War II, Archie and Samad and their families become agents of England’s irrevocable transformation. A second marriage to Clara Bowden, a beautiful, albeit tooth-challenged, Jamaican half his age, quite literally gives Archie a second lease on life, and produces Irie, a knowing child whose personality doesn’t quite match her name (Jamaican for “no problem”). Samad’s late-in-life arranged marriage (he had to wait for his bride to be born), produces twin sons whose separate paths confound Iqbal’s every effort to direct them, and a renewed, if selective, submission to his Islamic faith. Set against London’ s racial and cultural tapestry, venturing across the former empire and into the past as it barrels toward the future, White Teeth revels in the ecstatic hodgepodge of modern life, flirting with disaster, confounding expectations, and embracing the comedy of daily existence.
# | Books | Authors | Lists |
(Titles Appear On 1 List Each) | |||
44 | 78-87 London Youth | Wikipedia | |
45 | 84, Charing Cross Road | Helene Hanff | Rick Steves |
46 | A Christmas Carol | Charles Dickens | Goodreads |
47 | A Conspiracy of Paper (Benjamin Weaver, #1) | David Liss | Goodreads |
48 | A Curious Guide to London | Simon Leyland | Londonist |
49 | A Far Cry from Kensington | Muriel Spark | Goodreads |
50 | A History of London | Stephen Inwood | Rick Steves |
51 | A Journal of the Plague Year | Daniel Defoe | Goodreads |
52 | A Journey Through Ruins: The Last Days of London | Patrick Wright | What Should I Read Next? |
53 | A Life In A Moment | Stefanos Livos | Goodreads |
54 | A People’s History of London | John Rees and Lyndsey Germany | Londonist |
55 | A Pin to See the Peepshow | F. Tennyson Jesse | Whizzpast |
56 | A Survey of London | Londonist | |
57 | A Tale of Two Cities | Charles Dickens | Goodreads |
58 | A Traitor to Memory (Inspector Lynley, #11) | Elizabeth George | Goodreads |
59 | A Traveller’s History of England | Christopher Daniell | Rick Steves |
60 | A Walk in London | Salvatore Rubbino | Pages And Margins |
61 | About a Boy | Nick Horn | Goodreads |
62 | ADRIFT IN SOHO | COLIN WILSON | Esquire |
63 | Alys, Always | Harriet Lane | Bookriot |
64 | Amazing and Extraordinary London Underground Facts | Randomly London | |
65 | An Equal Music | Vikram Seth | Bookriot |
66 | Any Harry Potter book | J.K. Rowling | Barnes & Noble |
67 | At Bertram’s Hotel | Agatha Christie | Barnes & Noble |
68 | Atonement | Ian McEwan | Goodreads |
69 | Automatic Woman | Nathan Yocum | Goodreads |
70 | Babycakes | Armistead Maupin | BuzzFeed |
71 | Bacon’s up to date street map of London 1902 | East London History | |
72 | Behind Those Eyes | Amanda Green | Goodreads |
73 | Belgrave Square (Charlotte & Thomas Pitt, #12) | Anne Perry | Goodreads |
74 | Bloomsbury and the Poets | Wikipedia | |
75 | Bohemia in London | Wikipedia | |
76 | Boris v. Ken: How Boris Johnson won London | Wikipedia | |
77 | Bring Up the Bodies (Thomas Cromwell, #2) | Hilary Mantel | Goodreads |
78 | Brutal London | Standard | |
79 | Buckingham Palace Gardens (Charlotte & Thomas Pitt, #25) | Anne Perry | Goodreads |
80 | Call The Midwife: A True Story of the East End in the 1950s | Jennifer Worth | What Should I Read Next? |
81 | Capital | John Lanchester | Suitcase Mag |
82 | Charmes de Londres | Jacques Prévert | Londonist |
83 | City of the Mind | Penelope Lively | BuzzFeed |
84 | Conceit | Mary Novik | Goodreads |
85 | Cross River Traffic: A History of London’s Bridges | Chris Roberts | Londonist |
86 | Curiocity: In Pursuit of London | Standard | |
87 | CURIOSITIES OF LONDON | JOHN TIMBS | The Great Wen |
88 | Damage | Josephine Hart | BuzzFeed |
89 | Dark Fire (Matthew Shardlake, #2) | C.J. Sansom | Goodreads |
90 | David Copperfield | Charles Dickens | Goodreads |
91 | Derelict London | Paul Talling | Londonist |
92 | Diamond Street: The Hidden World of Hatton Garden | Rachel Lichtenstein | Londonist |
93 | Dining Out Around the Solar System (Dining Out Around The Solar System, #1) | Clare O’Beara | Goodreads |
94 | Do Not Pass Go: From the Old Kent Road to Mayfair | Tim Moore | Londonist |
95 | Dombey and Son | Charles Dickens | Goodreads |
96 | Downriver | Iain Sinclair | The Guardian |
97 | Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde | Robert Louis Stevenson | Barnes & Noble |
98 | Eat My Heart Out | Zoe Pilger | Bookriot |
99 | Ed Glinert, Allen Lane, ISBN 0713996889 | Paul Simenon out of the Clash! | East London History |
100 | Elizabeth’s London | Liza Picard | Rick Steves |
101 | Ernö Goldfinger: The Life of an Architect | Nigel Warburton | Londonist |
102 | Essays in London and Elsewhere | Wikipedia | |
103 | Farewell To The East End | The Last Days of the East End Midwives | What Should I Read Next? |
104 | Fever Pitch | Nick Hornby | Rick Steves |
105 | Forever Amber | Kathleen Winsor | Goodreads |
106 | From the Slopes of Olympus to the Banks of the Lea | Matt Haynes and Jude Rogers | Londonist |
107 | Georgian London | Lucy Inglis | Londonist |
108 | Girl on a Train | A.J. Waines | Goodreads |
109 | Goodnight Lady | Martina Cole | What Should I Read Next? |
110 | Great Expectations | Charles Dickens | Barnes & Noble |
111 | Great Houses of London | James Stourton | Londonist |
112 | Great Pubs of London | Standard | |
113 | Greater London: The Story of the Suburbs | Nick Barratt | Londonist |
114 | Guide to London’s Blue Plaques | Standard | |
115 | Guide to the Architecture of London | Edward Jones and Christopher Woodward | Londonist |
116 | Harris’s List of Covent Garden Ladies | Wikipedia | |
117 | Haunted London Underground | Randomly London | |
118 | Her Fearful Symmetry | Audrey Niffenegger | BuzzFeed |
119 | Hope of Israel | Patricia O’Sullivan | Goodreads |
120 | IN CAMDEN TOWN | DAVID THOMSON | The Great Wen |
121 | Jack Maggs | Peter Carey | Goodreads |
122 | Japanese Bankers in the City of London | Wikipedia | |
123 | Keep the Aspidistra Flying | George Orwell | Goodreads |
124 | KILL YOUR FRIENDS | JOHN NIVEN | Esquire |
125 | King Rat | China Miéville | BuzzFeed |
126 | Leadville (book) | Wikipedia | |
127 | Letters from London | Julian Barnes | Rick Steves |
128 | Lights Out for the Territory | Iain Sinclair | Londonist |
129 | Little Dorrit | Charles Dickens | Goodreads |
130 | Lockie’s Topography of London | Wikipedia | |
131 | Loitering with Intent | Muriel Spark | Goodreads |
132 | London and the Reformation | Susan Brigden | Londonist |
133 | London at War | Philip Ziegler | Londonist |
134 | London Burning: Portraits from a Creative City | Wikipedia | |
135 | London Cemeteries | Hugh Meller | Londonist |
136 | London Film Location Guide | Wikipedia | |
137 | London in the 19th Century | Jerry White | Londonist |
138 | London Lore | Wikipedia | |
139 | London Past and Present | Wikipedia | |
140 | LONDON PECULIARS | PETER ASHLEY | The Great Wen |
141 | London Perceived | V S Pritchett | Standard |
142 | London Revealed: Uncovering London’s Hidden History | Julian Shuckburgh | East London History |
143 | London Then and Now | Diane Burstein | East London History |
144 | London Through a Lens | Time Out Books | Londonist |
145 | London Triptych | Jonathan Kemp | Goodreads |
146 | London Triumphant | Sydney R Jones | Londonist |
147 | London Uncovered | Standard | |
148 | LONDON UNDER LONDON | RICHARD TRENCH | The Great Wen |
149 | London Underground Guide 2015 | Jason Cross | Londonist |
150 | London: A History in Maps | Peter Barber | Londonist |
151 | London: A Short History | AN Wilson | East London History |
152 | LONDON: THE UNIQUE CITY | STEEN EILER RASMUSSEN | The Great Wen |
153 | London’s Boroughs at 50 | Wikipedia | |
154 | London’s Disused Underground Stations | Randomly London | |
155 | London’s Docklands: A History of the Lost Quarter | Fiona Rule | Londonist |
156 | London’s Hidden Walks | Stephen Millar | Londonist |
157 | London’s Labyrinth | Fiona Rule | Londonist |
158 | London’s Lost Rivers: A Walker’s Guide | Tom Bolton | Londonist |
159 | London’s Secret Places | David Hampshire and Graeme Chesters | Londonist |
160 | London’s Disused Underground Stations | JC Connor | East London History |
161 | Londoners Through A Lens | Time Out Books | Londonist |
162 | Londonistan | Melanie Philips | Londonist |
163 | Longitude | Dava Sobel | Rick Steves |
164 | Look Inside London | Jonathan Melmoth and Peter Allen | Pages And Margins |
165 | Lost London: 1870-1945 | Philip Davies | Londonist |
166 | Love, Nina | Nina Stibbe | BuzzFeed |
167 | Mansions of Misery | Standard | |
168 | Mapp and Lucia | E. F. Benson | Rick Steves |
169 | Martin Chuzzlewit | Charles Dickens | Goodreads |
170 | Mary Poppins (Mary Poppins, #1) | P.L. Travers | Goodreads |
171 | Model Under Cover: Deadly By Design | Carina Axelsson | Goodreads |
172 | Mr Loverman | Bernardine Evaristo | Bookriot |
173 | Mrs P’s Journey: The Remarkable Story of the Woman Who Created the A-Z Map | Sarah Hartley | Londonist |
174 | MURPHY | SAMUEL BECKETT | Esquire |
175 | My East End: Memories of Life in Cockney London | Gilda O’Neill | East London History |
176 | Nairn’s London | Ian Nairn | Londonist |
177 | Narcissist | Suzi Slade | Goodreads |
178 | Necropolis: London and its Dead | Catharine Arnold | Londonist |
179 | Night and Day | Virginia Woolf | Whizzpast |
180 | Notes from a Small Island | Bill Bryson | Rick Steves |
181 | Notes on a Scandal | Zoë Heller | BuzzFeed |
182 | Now You See Me (Lacey Flint, #1) | Sharon Bolton | Goodreads |
183 | NW | Zadie Smith | Goodreads |
184 | Oliver Twist | Charles Dickens | Goodreads |
185 | One Pair of Hands | Monica Dickens | Goodreads |
186 | Oracle | J.C. Martin | Goodreads |
187 | Our Mutual Friend | Charles Dickens | Goodreads |
188 | Our Street: East End Life in the Second World War | Gilda O’Neill | East London History |
189 | Palliser novels | Anthony Trollope | Goodreads |
190 | Payback | Kimberley Chambers | What Should I Read Next? |
191 | Pentecost Alley (Charlotte and Thomas Pitt Novels) | Anne Perry | What Should I Read Next? |
192 | Permanent Londoners | Judi Culbertson | Londonist |
193 | Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens | J.M. Barrie | Goodreads |
194 | Peter: The Untold True Story | Christopher Daniel Mechling | Goodreads |
195 | Pigeon English | Stephen Kelman | Bookriot |
196 | Power (Hikers Trilogy #1) | Lauren Algeo | Goodreads |
197 | Prime Deception | Carys Jones | Goodreads |
198 | Progressing Through Change, The Recent History of City University London | Allan PO Williams | City University Of London |
199 | Prostitution, Considered in Its Moral, Social, and Sanitary Aspects | Wikipedia | |
200 | Public Sculpture of the City of London | Philip Ward-Jackson | Londonist |
201 | Queer City | Wikipedia | |
202 | Quiet London | Siobhan Wall | Londonist |
203 | Real Bloomsbury | Wikipedia | |
204 | Rebel Footprints: A Guide to Uncovering London’s Radical History | David Rosenberg | Londonist |
205 | Restoration London | Liza Picard | Londonist |
206 | Riot City: Protest and Rebellion in the Capital | Wikipedia | |
207 | River Effra: South London’s Secret Spine | Standard | |
208 | Rivers of London | Ben Aaronovitch | BuzzFeed |
209 | Rodinsky’s Room | Rachel Lichtenstein and Iain Sinclair | Suitcase Mag |
210 | Rough Justice | Gilda O’Neill | What Should I Read Next? |
211 | Samuel Pepys’s Diary | Samuel Pepys | Londonist |
212 | Scarp | Nick Papadimitriou | Londonist |
213 | Schemer | Kimberley Chambers | What Should I Read Next? |
214 | Second-Class Citizen | Buchi Emecheta | BuzzFeed |
215 | Secret Underground London | Randomly London | |
216 | Sense and Sensibility | Jane Austen | Goodreads |
217 | Shadows of the Workhouse (Ulverscroft Large Print Series) | Jennifer Worth | What Should I Read Next? |
218 | SHAPING LONDON | TERRY FARRELL | The Great Wen |
219 | Silent Fear (A novel inspired | true crimes) | Goodreads |
220 | Silvertown: An East End Family Memoir | Melanie McGrath | Londonist |
221 | Small Island | Andrea Levy | Goodreads |
222 | Soho | Keith Waterhouse | The Guardian |
223 | Sounds Like London | Wikipedia | |
224 | Spiritus Mundi Book I: The Novel | Robert Sheppard | Goodreads |
225 | Spitalfields: The History of a Nation in a Handful of Streets | Standard | |
226 | SS-GB | Len Deighton | Rick Steves |
227 | St Pancras Station | Simon Bradley | Rick Steves |
228 | Streaking for Mother | Mark Shearman | Goodreads |
229 | Streetlife: The untold history of Europe’s twentieth century | Wikipedia | |
230 | SUBTERRANEAN RAILWAY | CHRISTIAN WOOLMAR | The Great Wen |
231 | Suggs and the City: My Journeys Through Disappearing London | Wikipedia | |
232 | Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street | Stephen Sondheim | Goodreads |
233 | Tainted Love | Kimberley Chambers | What Should I Read Next? |
234 | Tales From the Terrific Register | Cate Ludlow | Londonist |
235 | Tales From the Two Puddings | Eddie Johnson | Londonist |
236 | Terence Conran on London | Terence Conran | Londonist |
237 | Thames Triumphant | Sydney R Jones | Londonist |
238 | Thames: Sacred River | Peter Ackroyd | Londonist |
239 | Thank You, Jeeves | P. G. Wodehouse | Rick Steves |
240 | The Architecture of Wren | Kerry Downes | Londonist |
241 | The Ballad of Peckham Rye | Muriel Spark | BuzzFeed |
242 | The Blackest Streets: The Life and Death of a Victorian Slum | Sarah Wise | Londonist |
243 | The Blood Doctor | Barbara Vine | Goodreads |
244 | The Boiler Plot | Emily McDaid | Goodreads |
245 | The Boss of Bethnal Green: Joseph Merceron, the Godfather of Regency London | Julian Woodford | Standard |
246 | The Buddha of Suburbia | Hanif Kureishi | Rick Steves |
247 | The Building of London: From the Conquest to the Great Fire | John Schofield | Londonist |
248 | The Business | Martina Cole | What Should I Read Next? |
249 | The Carer | Scott Nelson | Goodreads |
250 | The Case of Jack the Nipper (The Chronicles of Mister Marmee, #1) | H.L. Stephens | Goodreads |
251 | The Case of the Wayward Fae ~ A Chronicle of Mister Marmee | H.L. Stephens | Goodreads |
252 | The Cater Street Hangman (Charlotte & Thomas Pitt, #1) | Anne Perry | Goodreads |
253 | The Children’s Book | A.S. Byatt | Goodreads |
254 | The City University | S. John Teague | City University Of London |
255 | The City: London and the Global Power of Finance | Wikipedia | |
256 | The Complete Sherlock Holmes | Arthur Conan Doyle | Goodreads |
257 | The Face of a Stranger (William Monk, #1) | Anne Perry | Goodreads |
258 | The First Bohemians | Wikipedia | |
259 | The Forsyte Saga (The Forsyte Chronicles, #1-3) | John Galsworthy | Goodreads |
260 | The Gentle Author’s London Album | The Gentle Author | Londonist |
261 | The Geo-Politics of the City | Wikipedia | |
262 | The Girl Who Tweeted Wolf (Hobson & Choi #1) | Nick Bryan | Goodreads |
263 | The Great Fire of London | Peter Ackroyd | Goodreads |
264 | The Great Stink | Clare Clark | Rick Steves |
265 | The Groundwater Diaries | Tim Bradford | Londonist |
266 | The History of Clerkenwell | William Pinks | Londonist |
267 | THE HISTORY OF LONDON IN MAPS | FELIX BARKER AND PETER JACKSON | The Great Wen |
268 | The Hyde Park Headsman (Charlotte & Thomas Pitt, #14) | Anne Perry | Goodreads |
269 | The Italian Boy: Murder and Grave-Robbery in 1830s London | Sarah Wise | Londonist |
270 | The Jupiter Myth | Lindsey Davis | Rick Steves |
271 | The Last Lion | William Manchester | Rick Steves |
272 | THE LIKES OF US | MICHAEL COLLINS | The Great Wen |
273 | The London Compendium: A Street-by-street Exploration of the Hidden Metropolis | Ed Glinert | East London History |
274 | The London Complaint: A Celebration of the Capital’s Maladies | Standard | |
275 | The London Hanged | Peter Linebaugh | Londonist |
276 | The London Nobody Knows | Geoffrey Fletcher | Londonist |
277 | The London Rich | Peter Thorold | Londonist |
278 | The Longest Night: Voices From the Blitz | Gavin Mortimer | Londonist |
279 | The Lost Baggage of Silvia Guzmán | Mike Robbins | Goodreads |
280 | The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare | G.K. Chesterton | Goodreads |
281 | The Napoleon of Notting Hill | G.K. Chesterton | Goodreads |
282 | The Night Watch | Sarah Waters | BuzzFeed |
283 | The Paying Guests | Sarah Waters | Rick Steves |
284 | The Picture of Dorian Gray | Oscar Wilde | Goodreads |
285 | The Quincunx | Charles Palliser | Goodreads |
286 | The Road Home | Rose Tremain | BuzzFeed |
287 | The Romance of Soho | E Beresford Chancellor | Londonist |
288 | The Rook (The Checquy Files, #1) | Daniel O’Malley | Goodreads |
289 | The Runaway | Martina Cole | What Should I Read Next? |
290 | The Runaways and the Everlasting | Monifa Anderson | Goodreads |
291 | The Second-Last Woman in England | Maggie Joel | Goodreads |
292 | The Seven Curses of London | James Greenwood | Londonist |
293 | The Silent Cry (Inspector William Monk Mystery) | Anne Perry | What Should I Read Next? |
294 | The Silent Traveller in London | Wikipedia | |
295 | The Sleeping Angel | Margarita Morris | Goodreads |
296 | The Spell of London | HV Morton | Londonist |
297 | The Subterranean Railway | Christian Wolmar | Londonist |
298 | The Swap | Nancy Boyarsky | Goodreads |
299 | The Threepenny Opera | Bertolt Brecht | Goodreads |
300 | The Trap | Kimberley Chambers | What Should I Read Next? |
301 | The Uncommon Reader | Alan Bennett | Goodreads |
302 | The Unfortunate Traveller and Other Works | Thomas Nashe | Goodreads |
303 | The Victorian City: Everyday Life in Dickens’ London | Judith Flanders | Londonist |
304 | The Waste Land | T.S. Eliot | Goodreads |
305 | The Whitechapel Conspiracy (Charlotte & Thomas Pitt, #21) | Anne Perry | Goodreads |
306 | The Wronged | Kimberley Chambers | What Should I Read Next? |
307 | The Yard (Scotland Yard’s Murder Squad, #1) | Alex Grecian | Goodreads |
308 | The Zoo: The Wild and Wonderful Tale of the Founding of the London Zoo | Standard | |
309 | Thirty Seconds to Die (Thirty Seconds to Die, #1) | S.G. Holster | Goodreads |
310 | This is London | Miroslav Sasek | Pages And Margins |
311 | This Other London: Adventures in the Overlooked City | John Rogers | Londonist |
312 | Through Time: London | Richard Platt | Pages And Margins |
313 | Times History of London | Hugh Clout | East London History |
314 | Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy | John le Carré | Goodreads |
315 | Tired of London, Tired of Life | Tom Jones | Londonist |
316 | Too Many Mothers | Roberta Taylor | What Should I Read Next? |
317 | Trueman Bradley – The Next Great Detective | Alexei Maxim Russell | Goodreads |
318 | Tunnel Vision | Keith Lowe | Superhero You |
319 | Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky | Patrick Hamilton | Goodreads |
320 | Two Women | Martina Cole | What Should I Read Next? |
321 | Underground London | Stephen Smith | Londonist |
322 | Underground: How the Tube Shaped London | Randomly London | |
323 | Underworld London: Crime and Punishment in the Capital City | Wikipedia | |
324 | VIOLENT LONDON | CLIVE BLOOM | The Great Wen |
325 | Walk the Lines | Mark Mason | Londonist |
326 | Westminster Abbey | Richard Jenkyns | East London History |
327 | With No One as Witness (Inspector Lynley, #13) | Elizabeth George | Goodreads |
328 | With Wings Like Eagles | Michael Korda | Rick Steves |
329 | Wolf Hall (Thomas Cromwell, #1) | Hilary Mantel | Goodreads |
330 | Wormwood | G.P. Taylor | East London History |
Source | Article |
Barnes & Noble | 10 Books Set in London, the World’s Best City |
Bookriot | DONE WITH DICKENS: BOOKS ABOUT LIFE IN CONTEMPORARY LONDON |
BuzzFeed | 26 Books To Read Before You Move To London |
City University Of London | Books about our history |
East London History | Some very good books about London and the East End of London |
Esquire | The Best Novels Set In London |
Goodreads | London fiction |
Londonist | What Are The Best Books About London? |
Pages And Margins | Picture Books about London |
Randomly London | Want To Be A Tube Sherlock? Then Read These Books About London Underground’s Abandoned and Disused Ghost Stations |
Rick Steves | London: Recommended Books and Movies |
Standard | The best books about London |
Suitcase Mag | 10 BOOKS EVERY LONDONER SHOULD READ |
Superhero You | 10 Great Books About London |
The Great Wen | Best books about London |
The Guardian | 10 of the best books set in London |
What Should I Read Next? | Books with the subject: England–london–east End |
Whizzpast | 10 vintage books you should read if you love London |
Wikipedia | Category:Books about London |
"What are the best Science Fiction And Fantasy books released in 2023?" We looked at…
"What are the best Graphic Novels And Comics books released in 2023?" We looked at…
"What are the best Science And Nature books released in 2023?" We looked at 278…
"What are the best Mystery, Horror, and Thriller books released in 2023?" We looked at…
"What are the best Nonfiction books released in 2023?" We looked at 428 of the…
"What are the best Fiction & Literature books released in 2023?" We looked at 448…