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London Life between 30s - 50s


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One of my favourite ever books is Angel Pavement by J P Priestley. It deals with the lives of a group of office workers in a small office in London around the 1930s. It is beautifully written and although it doesn't set the world alight plot-wise the descriptions of the characters and their lives are just magic. I found similar stories in Norman Collin's books, London Belongs to Me and Bond Street Story.

 

Now I'm after more of a similar genre. It doesn't have to be thick with plot, I just love reading the minutiae of people's lives and their stories during the period in question - but well written. I'm looking at novels, not necessarily war time stories, just something to really get into and savour.

 

Tall order, I know, but I'm sure you wonderful bibliophiles will have something up your sleeves :hug:

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It's not a novel but a collection of short stories, but I loved Good Evening, Mrs Craven by Mollie Panter-Downes. It's published by Persephone Books who are a small publishing house who are republishing (mostly women) writers who have been largely forgotten. They have a catalogue of about 90 books, but a lot are early 20th century books, and their website (www.persephonebooks.co.uk) has notes about each book including a brief synopsis and some of the history of the book/author. I've read about half a dozen of their books, and I've yet to be disappointed, and I intend to read them all at some point.

 

The other books that spring to mind are the E.M. Delafield Provincial Lady books. Although set mostly in Devon, she does also spend time in London and America, and although it's been about 10 years since I read them, I still have immense fondness for them, and would love to re-read them some time.

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You could try anything by Julian Maclaren-Ross; a number of his short stories are set in London. His best known novel, "Of Love and Hunger" is set on the south coast, but captures the period before the war perfectly. Also some of the novels in Anthony Powell's Dance to the Music of Time series are set in the London of this time.

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The first thing I thought when I saw the title of this thread was London Belongs to Me (I've been trying to get a copy of that for a while but every time I see it there is something wrong with it - creased cover, rumpled pages etc - and at £9.99 I want an A1 perfect copy!).

 

You might like to try Call for the Dead, by John le Carré. Yes, it is a spy thriller, but it's set in and around London in the early fifties and has the kind of feel I think you may be after.

 

Also, both The Day of the Triffids and The Kraken Wakes by John Wyndham have large segments set in and around London and although Triffids is slightly timeless in it’s setting, they both have a distinct 50s flavour to them.

 

Lastly, although this doesn't have much set in London, it does do the drab wartime pitch down to a tee, I would recommend Enigma by Robert Harris. Another spy thriller, but brilliantly written and a very good story to boot!

 

 

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Thanks so much for all your replies. There are some great books for me to look out for - some authors I haven't come across so look forward to learning more about them.

 

 

 

The first thing I thought when I saw the title of this thread was London Belongs to Me (I've been trying to get a copy of that for a while but every time I see it there is something wrong with it - creased cover, rumpled pages etc - and at £9.99 I want an A1 perfect copy!).

 

 

Raven, I mentioned this in my post as being typical of the book I'm looking for. I have a copy of it. Believe me - it was so difficult to find a good copy and mine is OK-ish, quite readable but the dust jacket is faded. However, the story itself is just great.

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^ I should have quoted you, as I was commenting on your post there!

 

There is a new Penguin Modern Classics version in print (I say new, I think it's been around for a year or more now!). That's the one I'm having trouble finding a decent copy of.

 

It's available on Amazon for £6.55 (Penguin Edition). :)

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The first thing that came to my mind when I read the title of the topic, was Jean Marsh's The House of Elliot. I love the TV series and bought the book when I happened to find it and was really pleased to read it. It wasn't as good as the TV series though, but if you don't mind that kind of thing, it's out there.

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^ you don't get to fondle the books or roll your ey... Oh dear God, I appear to be channelling Kylie . . .

I snorted and coughed when I read this! :giggle2: I think there are many on the forum who feel the same way about their buying of special books though.

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^ I know, but Amazon takes all the fun out of book buying, you don't get to fondle the books or roll your ey... Oh dear God, I appear to be channelling Kylie . . .

 

 

giggle.gif I have that affect on people...

 

I think there are many on the forum who feel the same way about their buying of special books though.

 

I agree. Can you name some names so Raven can start picking on those people instead of (or as well as) me? laugh.gif

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^ I know, but Amazon takes all the fun out of book buying, you don't get to fondle the books or roll your ey... Oh dear God, I appear to be channelling Kylie . . .

 

 

 

 

I snorted and coughed when I read this! :giggle2: I think there are many on the forum who feel the same way about their buying of special books though.

 

 

I don't fondle them but I do like to stroke them as I'm browsing :blush:

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  • 2 weeks later...

One that immediately jumps to mind as one of the best books I've ever read based on mid-twentieth century London (alongside London Belongs To Me) is Mother London by Michael Moorcock.

Mrs Dalloway also has a very strong streak of London running through it, as does The Years (although the latter starts in the late 1890s).

Excellent Women by Barbara Pym is set in London in 1952, and has a strong whiff of the city of that time.

I've yet to read them, but Connie Willis's new books Blackout and All Clear are, fairly obviously, set in wartime London, although the time travel element won't appeal to every one (It does to me though - her two previous books on the same theme (but not in London), Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog are favourites).

 

Two books that I tried this year, and didn't enjoy (but others did!!) that might be worth investigating are:

Bleeding Heart Square by Andrew Taylor, which is set in early 1930s London

Their Finest Hour and a Half by Lissie Evans, which is set in wartime London.

Edited by willoyd
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Many thanks for your great suggestions Willoyd. I will check out some of the titles you mention. Mother London sounds interesting.

 

Their Finest Hour and a Half is on my TBR pile. For some reason, I keep putting it back for later on.

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You could also try the Jennifer Worth books - she was a midwife in the EastEnd during the 1950's and her books print a pretty vivid picture of how things were for women in particular at that time.

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  • 5 years later...

 

The other books that spring to mind are the E.M. Delafield Provincial Lady books. Although set mostly in Devon, she does also spend time in London and America, and although it's been about 10 years since I read them, I still have immense fondness for them, and would love to re-read them some time.

 

Reading Delafield's The Provincial Lady in Wartime at the moment and enjoying it very much. She's a very funny lady. Am slowly working my way through the whole series.

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