3 Magical Novels Set in London

Missing the enchantment of trying to force yourself onto Platform 9 ¾ during a visit to King’s Cross Station? Read on to see how you can rediscover getting lost in the magic, a feeling only the UK’s capital can provide.

With the past year or so putting a, ahem, pause on the idea of hopping on a train and exploring London, we’ve turned our attention to books set in the historical and sprawling capital city to provide our fix of adventure and immersion — without the charming smells of the Bakerloo Line filling our lungs.

Whether you’re someone who enjoys dining at the Ritz before seeing a show, a thrillseeker bungee jumping from the top of Shard, or even just a West Ham fan who never misses a home game —  hopefully these fantastical and spellbinding books will be able to fill the Big Ben shaped hole in your heart.

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street - Natasha Pulley

I’ll be honest, I only picked this one up when I saw it on the coffee table whilst visiting family. Like a moth to a flame, I was drawn in by the edge of the pages that were painted a brilliant green. 

The descriptions of Victorian London in the book are utterly beautiful as we follow Thaniel Steepleton’s steps through Westminster and across to Filigree Street, on his search for the mysterious watchmaker who made a device alerting Thaniel to an imminent explosion, saving his life.

He gets to know the watchmaker, one Keita Mori — a member of the Japanese nobility with a strange power — and we are pulled from our usual perceptions of London life in the Victorian era, and into a world of whimsy and diversity as we start to meet the sizable Japanese community living in the city. 

There are also strong LGBT+ themes throughout Thaniel’s story, again challenging us to do away with our connotations of nineteenth century London being the face of the heterogenous, humourless, Victorian society. 

I love the way Pulley has used the setting in parts to drive the story. We’re swept from Thaniel’s beginnings in his cold and dreary office, returning home to his cold and dreary flat; to the bright lights and warmth of Filigree Street. I strongly recommend it to anyone looking for a charming, compelling and relentlessly magical novel. 

Slam - Nick Hornby

As a teenager, I unapologetically devoured Nick Hornby novels. Being a long suffering Arsenal fan, sometimes Fever Pitch was the only remedy. 

There are any number of Nick Hornby books set in London — indeed, the city itself is an integral part of so much of his writing. From the crate digging treasures of High Fidelity, to the early nineties nostalgia of About a Boy, his stories are often so propped up by the riveting manner in which he grounds us in the setting. I chose Slam, however, due to the fantasy element interwoven through the story. 

Sam is a sixteen year old boy who talks to his poster of Tony Hawk, his role model in both skateboarding and in life. We experience his atypical relationship with his mother — who gave birth to him when she was his age — as they navigate their lives in a small flat in London. 

We understand what growing up in a big city means for a teenager such as Sam, when he meets a girl named Alicia at a party, whom he starts dating, and has to adjust to all the thrills and spills associated with this. 

It’s shortly after where the magical elements come into play. Whilst he is fast asleep and dreaming one night, Sam is transported to the future where he is the father to Alicia’s child, a boy inexplicably named ‘Roof’. He struggles to support the child, emulating his mother’s trials when Sam himself was an infant, whilst trying to support himself with a college diploma in art and design.

Naturally, when he wakes up, he instantly blames his Tony Hawk poster. 

I can’t remember how many times I read and re-read this when I was Sam’s age. Spending my own childhood in rural Devon, it was fascinating to experience adolescence from a completely different perspective, in a completely different location. Of course, as a young adult novel, it also sends an important message about navigating the murky waters of dating safely. 

A Darker Shade of Magic - V. E. Schwab

Lastly, something a little bit different. If you feel like you know all there is to know about the Big Smoke — you could be Peckham born and bred, for instance, or a tube driver, or even the curator of the National gallery — then Schwab’s book invites you to explore London across different universes that exist in parallel with our own.

We follow Kell, a magician with the ability to travel between these different worlds. Originally from the ‘Red’ London, they escape to what’s known as the ‘Grey’ London, so named for its lack of magic. We enjoy — with a sense of dramatic irony, as Grey London is of course ‘our’ London — Kell’s exploration of what is a foreign land to them, seeing the city we know through their eyes, before they run into Delilah, a sneak thief with some slightly higher ambitions...

This was one book from a prescribed reading list at university that I actually enjoyed and rushed to finish before the lecture. The real strength comes from Schwab’s ability to create a myriad different versions of the same city, making sure each one is unique and full of character, without alienating the reader. Through each of the different incarnations, though vastly un-alike from one another, we are reassured by the familiarity of landmarks and geography. 

So pick up one of these novels, and escape with me to the city of London whilst we anxiously await for the real thing to re-open once again.