London City Lit

Description

London is the world's most happening, most exciting and most diverse city. From Roman stronghold and mighty capital of the British Empire to financial powerhouse and city of the 2012 Olympics, London has always looked to the past and the future. And no one reflects this brilliant complexity better than London's writers, whether home-grown, adopted or simply visiting. "City-Lit London" offers us the best writing on this amazing city with over sixty dazzling writers. Join them as...Will Self gets inside the head of a London cabby; Jan Morris flies into Heathrow; Monica Ali smells the curry on Brick Lane; Alan Bennett gives us a ride in the Queen's carriage; Xiaolu Guo enjoys a greasy spoon cafe in Hackney; Beryl Bainbridge attends Dr Johnson's funeral in Westminster Abbey; Sam Sevlon recalls the boat train arriving from Trinidad; Virginia Woolf goes shopping in Oxford Street; Barbara Cartland takes us to a West End ball; and, Dostoyevsky strolls down the Haymarket.

Reviews

"'The perfect read for travellers and booklovers of all ages' - Kate Mosse, bestselling author of Sepulchre 'An inviting new series of travel guides which collects some of the best writing on European cities to give a real flavour of the place. Such an idee formidable' - The Bookseller, Editor's Pick" 'The latest offering in this impressive little series concentrates on the spirit of London as seen through the eyes of an eclectic selection of writers. Part of the joy of this collection is that the writers span several centuries, which means that multiple faces of London are revealed. It is an exciting selection, with unexpected gems from novelists, travel writers, journalists and bloggers' Sunday Telegraph 'This excellent series ... which uses descriptions of a city penned by writers, both living and dead to illuminate the metropolis in question' - Conde Nast Traveller 'The subjects in this anthology are as varied as the shapes of Londoners' bottoms - which are discussed at one point - but within a book that includes both Barbara Cartland and Dostoyevsky lies a paradox: the city known by everyone is nonetheless unknown by its inhabitants' Time Out