In my opinion, reading is one of the best ways to spark your wanderlust, or learn more about a particular place. Whether it’s a guide book, or a fiction novel, nothing get’s me excited to go somewhere quite like either reading about it or watching a movie that takes place in the area. So, to round out my London series, here are a four British novels based in London that will help inspire your next London vacation (or simply take you there through the pages, if you can’t quite make it in person yet).
1. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Whether you read one, or the whole 12 book series, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle will make you want to traipse around London, solving mysteries like your favorite, albeit quirky detective.
2. Oliver Twist
Another classic, described on Goodreads, “Named a “national institution” by George Orwell, Dickens offers his most popular tale, of the orphan who is reared in a workhouse and runs away to London-a novel of social protest, a morality tale, and a detective story.”
London even offers walking tours that follow in the footsteps of Oliver himself. You can find more information about the tour here.
3. The Cormoran Strike series
I didn’t want to be too predictable by adding the Harry Potter series to this list (although it rightly deserves to be there). So I think a great alternative is the Cormoran Strike detective series by Robert Galbraith, J.K. Rowling’s pseudonym.
Each of the three books in the series are uniquely their own, while the underlying story is the reason you might read them in order. They give the feel of a modern day Sherlock, with some sexual tension thrown into the mix.
4. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
This book has been on my “to read” list for a while. I just keep crossing off other Neil Gaiman books first for some reason.
As told by Goodreads, “Under the streets of London there’s a place most people could never even dream of. A city of monsters and saints, murderers and angels, knights in armor and pale girls in black velvet. This is the city of the people who have fallen between the cracks. Richard Mayhew, a young businessman, is going to find out more than enough about this other London. A single act of kindness catapults him out of his workday existence and into a world that is at once eerily familiar and utterly bizarre. And a strange destiny awaits him down here, beneath his native city: Neverwhere.”
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Have you read any of these books? How did you like them? Do you have any other London inspired books to add to this short list? Let me know in the comments!
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Prost,