11 books you should read on the reality of London living
Literature has long been drawn to the subject of the city, and there is surely no other city which has appeared on the English language page more than London.
For centuries London has inspired writers, poets and authors; from the Victorian workhouses of Charles Dickens to the 1970s suburbs of Hanif Kureshi; from the regency houses of Virgina Woolf to the modern multi-cultured boroughs of Zadie Smith. What stands out among these – and the many other hundreds of literary snapshots of London – is that there is no singular version, or vision, of the capital. The writers who’ve sought to capture it – like each of us who live, or have lived, here – experience this city in their own individual way.
However, one universal theme, that runs through almost all takes on London life, is that it isn’t easy, that it challenges individuals in a variety of ways. As part of our London Literature Festival, on 21 October, we welcome writers Hashi Mohammed, Rowan Moore and Sam Byers to the Southbank Centre to talk about London Living, and specifically the increasingly unequal costs of life in the capital. Not just the financial cost, but the physical and mental costs of being a part of this sprawling city, and the question of which of us ultimately pays the most.
As a preview to this event, and to our London Literature Festival as a whole, our literary and poetry programmers trawled through the huge expanse of books, anthologies and collections about life in London to put forward a first XI of favourites. Here are 11 books that in their own way portray the reality and the variety of London Living.
Poor by Caleb Femi
‘Lyrically explosive and formally experimental, Caleb Femi's poems and photographs draw energy from the buildings that shaped the lives of those that 'slipped through the cracks',’ explains our National Poetry Librarian Chris McCabe. Published in 2020, this Forward Prize-winning collection documents growing up on the North Peckham Estate as a young Black man, and the trials, tribulations, dreams and joys that this brings. Here is a London where it’s possible to walk two and a half miles through an estate of 1,444 homes without ever touching the ground, and where the same police officer who told your primary school class they were special stops and searches you at 13 because 'you fit the description of a man'.
The Adulterants by Joe Dunthorne
Joe Dunthorne was born and brought up in Swansea, but he still manages to get a firm grip on the challenges of life in modern London, of millennial angst and pre-midlife crisis, in this his third novel, published in 2018. The Adulterants follows Ray, a very hard-to-love freelance tech journalist who dreams of making a difference, despite a natural penchant for generally making things worse. Our Head of Literature and Spoken Word Ted Hodgkinson describes The Adulterants as ‘a toe-curlingly funny portrait of thirty-somethings in Clapton dealing with property rental prices and more of modern millennial life’.
One Kensington Place by Emma Dent Coad
Highlighted by poet and literary programmer Lily Blacksell, One Kensington Place is ‘Labour Councillor Emma Dent Coad's furious take on food halls, food banks and Grenfell in one of the most unequal boroughs in the country, Kensington and Chelsea’. Published earlier this year this work of non-fiction highlights the horror of inequalities that abound in modern London, where the expensive largess of Harrods famous department store is just a short walk away from families who cannot buy enough food to feed themselves, and where a 20 minute bus ride across the borough can encompass a 30 year difference in life expectancy.
London and the South East by David Szalay
Throughout his three novels, and two collections of stories, David Szalay has excelled in portraying the intimate nature of people; placing significance on the seemingly insignificance of individual lives in an increasingly globalised world. This skill first came to light in London and the South East, Szalay’s 2009 Betty Trask Award winning debut novel, described by Hodgkinson as ‘an acerbically funny novel about skullduggery, sales and sex in an office in south London.’ In these pages, through Paul Rainey, a dissatisfied and very much hapless antihero, Szalay captures the everyday unglamorous nature of London life that often leads us to want more from our lot.
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo
‘Whilst Girl, Woman, Other is of course a multilayered novel about identity, it's also very much a London novel that captures various forms of precarity, privilege and marginality in the city,’ explains Hodgkinson of Bernardine Evaristo’s 2019 Booker Prize winning novel. As she follows 12 individuals from all areas of the UK, whose stories connect in one way or another and span years and continents, Evaristo deftly brings to light the country’s capital, its remarkable diversity, and the ever-changing and evolving personas of its boroughs.
The Lonely Londoners by Sam Selvon
‘I love this funny, melancholy and evocative novel by a writer described as a ‘laughing philosopher’,’ explains Blacksell. ‘Sam Selvon amalgamates a number of different dialects to create a really distinctive narrative voice.’ Written in 1956, through the pages of The Lonely Londoners, the Trinidian Selvon offers a remarkable snapshot of immigrant life in 1950s London. This was one of the first published works to focus on the Windrush generation of poor, working-class Black people in the capital and chronicle the struggles of their life in the city as they faced racism, exploitation and homesickness in an unfamiliar climate.
A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers by Xiaolu Guo
As Hodgkinson describes, Xiaolu Guo’s A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers ‘chronicles a young Chinese woman's arrival in Hackney, feeling caught between cultures and frequenting greasy spoon cafes.’ Published in 2008, this was the first novel Guo published in English; written deftly in the broken English of its heroine ‘Z’, with each chapter her English gradually improves, reflecting Z’s own language development over the year the novel is set. In Guo’s book London is an unfamiliar and challenging place, full of misunderstandings and peculiar customs; something that anyone who has moved to the capital as an adult can relate to.
Man-Hating Psycho by Iphgenia Baal
Published just last year, Iphgenia Baal’s story collection Man-Hating Psycho is, as McCabe explains, ‘great on living in London in the social media age, with no money and trying to make ends meet as a creative person’. In these pages the ever-present paradox of needing to be in London to establish yourself, yet not being able to afford to be in London until you’re established is presented through 13 playful texts. In Man-Hating Psycho, Baal also explores and lays bare the habits and inconsistencies of this social media age, and the disconnect between the public online identities we curate and our real-life selves.
Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson
Set across 2017 and 2018, Caleb Azumah Nelson’s Open Water is at its essence a love story, chronicling the connection and affection between a photographer – the story’s unnamed protagonist – and a dancer. It is also a text which offers frequent meditations on Blackness and Black masculinity, what these notions mean, and the challenges they present, but also celebrates Black artistry. And as a backdrop to all this is a vibrant portrait of the city, of the sprawling estates and terraced streets of south east London, and the pockets of creativity and joy that nestle in the city’s cracks and thrive, beneath its railway arches and in the back rooms of its pubs.
Brixton Rock by Alex Wheatle
Dubbed the ‘Bard of Brixton’, Alex Wheatle has lived this corner of London and all it can offer. As Yarman Irie he was a founding member of the Crucial Rocker sound system, writing lyrics about everyday life in Brixton in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and in 1981 he was imprisoned for his part in the Brixton riots. Wheatle drew on his own experiences for this, his 1999 debut novel, Brixton Rock, a story of teen-angst that encapsulated the challenges of 1980s inner-city life. Wheatle’s experiences would later be chronicled on screen too, as the author became the subject of one of Steve McQueen’s acclaimed five-film series, Small Axe.
Soho by Richard Scott
Described by Hodgkinson as ‘a wonderful evocation of gay London’, Soho is Scott’s multi-award-shortlisted debut collection. A portrait of life within the Soho-centred gay community, the poems of Soho offer a depiction of love and shame, of trauma and scars, and how the experiences of our past can impact on the relationships of our present. Scott’s collection also offers a tenderness and a joy too, encompassing the awakening and enlivening spirit that life in London can present.
Join Hashi Mohammed, Rowan Moore and Sam Byers for this timely conversation on writing about 'home' in London on Saturday 21 October.
Southbank Centre's London Literature Festival returns 18–19 October 2023, featuring famous faces and upcoming writers in talks, discussions, workshops and more.