Pairing Novels With a London Vacation

What I've been reading to prepare for our next trip.

Since September, I’ve been devouring novels set in London or its environs. I didn’t even realize at first how many of the books I was reading were set there. I was just reading and enjoying. But when I suddenly started planning a trip to London with my family in April, I had to laugh because I wasn’t sure which came first: The desire to travel to London or the love of reading books set in the moody city on the Thames?

Photo by Ed Robertson on Unsplash

If I’m really going to reach back in time, I think the spree started with Natalie Jenner’s charming novel Bloomsbury Girls, set in a bookshop in the Bloomsbury neighborhood, which I read awhile ago. But after reading numerous novels set in Paris (my absolute favorite being The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles), it was a nice break to travel over to the British city for a change.

Over the summer, I read The Rose Code by Kate Quinn, which follows women code breakers living in London during World War II. I was floored by that one — the excitement that these women existed, their fleshed out personal lives, the attention to historical detail — and I don’t even like books set during wartimes.

Soon after came a super addictive listen on Audible: Catherine Steadman’s twisty suspense novel There’s Something in the Water. This one follows a London couple who goes on their honeymoon only to uncover millions of dollars in a plane wreck while scuba diving in the sea. I couldn’t stop listening because not only do you want to know whether they’re going to keep the money. You don’t know how they’ll outrun the bad guys looking for them if they do pocket it. Super good audiobook, especially because Steadman reads it herself.

I learned that eucalyptus essential oil could kill a person if ingested (like literally if you drink it) while I was immersed in The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner. Ooh — this historical fiction goodie is set in modern day London and 1700s London and follows an ancient apothecary whose potions help women escape all sorts of maladies, including philandering husbands. It’s hard to believe that this one would keep you up turning pages but there’s something about the setting, the characters and the plot (hint: the apothecary isn’t afraid to dish out poisons to women who need it) that is absolutely enchanting.

I’m always down for a good mystery and after There’s Something in the Water, I moved on to Ruth Ware’s The It Girl. Set at Oxford, just outside of London, in the oughts with a second timeline in present day London, the book follows Hannah Jones as she tries to uncover the mystery of what really happened to her best friend and “it” girl April in their senior year at university. The mystery of this one really drew me in, but I loved being at Oxford with this crew just as much as I enjoyed reading to find out the ending.

Last week I picked up a copy of historical fiction writer Kate Morton’s novel The Clockmaker’s Daughter. I have The Lake House (bought it twice at different points because I LOVED the cover) but I haven’t been able to get into it. I was instantly lured into The Clockmaker’s Daughter though, which is set on the Upper Thames at Birchwood Manor in the 1869s. Alternating in present day London, the story follows Elodie Winslow, a young archivist who uncovers a leather satchel with a sepia photograph of an arresting-looking woman in Victorian clothing, and an artist’s sketchbook containing the drawing of a twin-gabled house on the bend of a river. It’s clear that there’s some connection between the two of them but I’m still figuring that out. I’ll keep you posted.

I nearly forgot that I read Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet, too — and that was one of my favorite novels of the year. It takes place in Shakespeare’s hometown in the Cotswolds and is told from his wife’s point of view. I don’t even know how to summarize this one, but it’s AMAZING.

Isn’t this funny though? My reading habits are tracking completely with a part of the world that I’m super interested in right now. I’m currently trying to figure out which literary landmarks would be worth visiting in London: Shakespeare’s home, the home of Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters? We’re only going for a week so only so much is possible. If you have any ideas, please share!

Maybe I’ll have to keep reading books set elsewhere in the country to visit some of the rest.