Many of the best private tours London has to offer focus on its history, its artistic heritage and its cultural fingerprint, and several bestselling novels have been set in whole or in part in London.
Aside from being half of the focus of A Tale of Two Cities, the highest-selling book of all time, alongside several other Charles Dickens novels, London has been the centrepiece for countless novels and stories over the centuries.
Alongside A Tale of Two Cities, Bleak House and The Old Curiosity Shop, which is one of London’s oldest buildings but was renamed following the success of the novel, London has shaped and indeed been shaped by its incredible literary tradition.
Here are some of the best novels set in London outside of the biggest bestsellers, and which places to visit that deeply inspired them.
White Teeth
One of the greatest debut novels ever written, Zadie Smith’s White Teeth was one of the first big bestsellers of 21st century London and one that focuses on the evolution of the city from the Second World War onwards, as people from the Commonwealth created new lives and made their own impact.
Set entirely in Willesden, Brent, White Teeth focuses on three families across three generations from 1974 until 2000, chronicling not only their personal history and growth but also how London changed in the latter part of the 20th century.
The timing of the book is rather impeccable, as visiting Willesden in 2025 allows one to contrast the somewhat troubled 1970s and 1980s when the town and especially the High Street was in a period of decline due to the regeneration and growth of the area in the decades since White Teeth.
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
Many great spy novels are based in London, in no small part due to the ironically incredibly conspicuous SIS Building and the influence of the James Bond series.
The former secret agent and Bond novelist John Le Carre was also highly inspired by London, and arguably his best book, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, is an incredible battle of wits set almost entirely around London.
The most famous location linked to Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, however, is Cambridge Circus, the intersection of Shaftesbury Avenue and Charing Cross Road which is also home to the Palace Theatre.
This is where the nickname “The Circus” comes from, although the most likely entrance to the building is 90 Charing Cross Road, slightly north of the intersection.
Unlike the MI6 Building, the SIS has never actually operated on Cambridge Circus, but the iconic nature of the Karla Trilogy and legendary literary spy George Smiley means that it still holds a fascination for people interested in London’s literary footprint.
The Buddha Of Suburbia
Much like White Teeth, Hanif Kureshi’s The Buddha of Suburbia is another candidate for best ever debut novel, and much like Zadie Smith’s novel, spends much of its time in London’s suburbs.
Initially set in Bromley, there is a sense of progression up from there to Beckenham and finally to South London by way of New York. It is treated like an odyssey and highlights how diverse and different London can be despite being so closely connected geographically.
From Barons Court to Brixton, The Buddha of Suburbia is an astonishingly complete look at what makes London so unique.
Mrs Dalloway
Sometimes considered to be London’s answer to the James Joyce novel Ulysses, Virginia Woolf’s stream-of-consciousness exploration of a day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway provides a particularly unique side of London in the period between the end of one World War and the start of another.
Much like Ulysses, you could create an entire tour based on the evocative journey Clarissa takes on that beautiful June day in 21923, and whilst some of the stops on this journey are ones you would see in any tour of London, others detail a rather hidden beauty even now.
Essential stops such as Westminster, Bond Street, Piccadilly, Buckingham Palace and St James’ Park are interspersed with more hidden gems such as Hatchards, London’s oldest booksellers, as well as Green Park and finally Clarissa’s home in Dean’s Yard.
The walk Clarissa takes is fascinating because the book itself almost evokes the same intermingling feelings and melding of the past and present as a lot of cultural tours of London do.
The characters, particularly Clarissa herself, find themselves constantly reminded of their youth, with the different parts of their day in London shaping this memory, something that serves to make them appreciate every moment even more.
