London - Historical Fiction

[Anonymous]

Looking for accessible (not dense) novels that will provide some London history, 19th century or earlier.

We'd be extra grateful if you could include a sentence or two about why you liked it, but no worries if not. We can always pull up descriptions on Goodreads, of course. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Here my mystery suggestions—

The Ruby in the Smoke is a YA mystery set in 19th c London, remember it being very evocative of the London slums.

Sherlock Holmes stories, of course.

Daughter of time is a great mystery about the murder of the princes in the tower (though I don’t remember how much of London is in it).

Of course there is the Edward Rutherford London, if you want a James Michener-like book.

[Anonymous]

Did you read The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory? That is an oldie but goodie.

[Anonymous]

Almost anything by Georgette Heyer — light frothy romance novels for the most part (she’s the OG regency romance person) many of them set in London

Sins of the City series by KJ Charles is set in Victorian London and always feels very deeply placed in its time and place as it’s set during the Great Smog (winter 1873). These are queer romance with mystery/thriller plots.

[Anonymous]

Christopher Fowler's Bryant and May mystery series is set primarily in present-day(ish) London, but one of the main characters is obsessively interested in the history of London, from buried rivers to Victorian pubs to the history of the Tube to WWII, and many plots turn on aspects of that history. And they're very funny!

Connie Willis's Blackout and All Clear are set in her universe of time-traveling historians, but they focus on London in the Blitz.

[Anonymous]

^ which I realize is not 19th c. or earlier, but still fantastic fun. ^ -PP

[Anonymous]

Coming here to suggest Georgette Heyer too, The Grand Sophy is a classic.
Also many Dickens novels have London as at least a partial setting.
For more modern times, Zadie Smith's books are great.

[Anonymous]

Is Hilary Mantel considered “dense”? It’s definitely literary fiction but I don’t find it inaccessible; others may disagree. If not, anything in her Wolf Hall trilogy (covers Thomas Cromwell in the early to mid 1500s) would be great.

The Whalebone Theatre is also good (WWI-WWII era, though mainly outside London).

[Anonymous]

Hilary Mantel is pretty much the definition of dense— I assumed OP included that qualifier almost for that reader— but you do you

[Anonymous]

The Below Stairs mysteries by Jennifer Ashley, which starts with Death Below Stairs. These are set in Victorian London and feature a cook who solves mysteries.

Jennifer Ashley is also a romance writer, but her mysteries feature only the slowest of romances and nothing explicit on page. As Ashley Gardner, she also writes the Captain Lacey mysteries set in Regency London.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hilary Mantel is pretty much the definition of dense— I assumed OP included that qualifier almost for that reader— but you do you

I’m a different poster and I had deferred reading wolf hall for years because I had heard it was dense but read it on our London vacation last year and found it not at all dense. I thought it was a very easy to read style and really brought the personalities to life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hilary Mantel is pretty much the definition of dense— I assumed OP included that qualifier almost for that reader— but you do you

I’m a different poster and I had deferred reading wolf hall for years because I had heard it was dense but read it on our London vacation last year and found it not at all dense. I thought it was a very easy to read style and really brought the personalities to life.

PP1 here: agreed— I genuinely don’t think they’re dense in any sense of the word, but reading is very personal so everyone will have their own definition. Funnily, I also thought of “Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell” as a recommendation, since it’s a whimsical “alternative” history of 19th century England, but I believe that book is the definition of “dense”— it’s written like a history textbook and is about 800 pages! (However, it’s an absolute gem of a book if you have the time and patience to put the work in.)

On the lighter end, there is always Philippa Gregory, who is quite fun, but if you actually want to learn something, proceed with caution; her books drive historians crazy.

[Anonymous]

Thanks everyone! These are great suggestions and your comments are helping me hone in on what exactly I'm looking for (genre, time period, pace of plot, ease of read, historical accuracy etc.) Same for teenage DD. We appreciate it, so please keep the recs coming.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hilary Mantel is pretty much the definition of dense— I assumed OP included that qualifier almost for that reader— but you do you

I’m a different poster and I had deferred reading wolf hall for years because I had heard it was dense but read it on our London vacation last year and found it not at all dense. I thought it was a very easy to read style and really brought the personalities to life.

Funnily, I also thought of “Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell” as a recommendation, since it’s a whimsical “alternative” history of 19th century England, but I believe that book is the definition of “dense”— it’s written like a history textbook and is about 800 pages! (However, it’s an absolute gem of a book if you have the time and patience to put the work in.)

This looks amazing, and it's available via Libby. Thank you! (I also saw Piranesi, by the same author. Not about London but it seems absolutely creative and "out there" in what could be a really great way. Curious if anyone's read it, and if so, what did you think?)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hilary Mantel is pretty much the definition of dense— I assumed OP included that qualifier almost for that reader— but you do you

I’m a different poster and I had deferred reading wolf hall for years because I had heard it was dense but read it on our London vacation last year and found it not at all dense. I thought it was a very easy to read style and really brought the personalities to life.

Funnily, I also thought of “Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell” as a recommendation, since it’s a whimsical “alternative” history of 19th century England, but I believe that book is the definition of “dense”— it’s written like a history textbook and is about 800 pages! (However, it’s an absolute gem of a book if you have the time and patience to put the work in.)

This looks amazing, and it's available via Libby. Thank you! (I also saw Piranesi, by the same author. Not about London but it seems absolutely creative and "out there" in what could be a really great way. Curious if anyone's read it, and if so, what did you think?)

Haven’t read Piranesi but Strange and Norrell is AMAZING! Absolutely fabulous world building and complete commitment to stylistic era.