18 wonderful novels set in a wonderful city – where London often becomes as central to the plot as the human characters themselves.
We’ve also just turned our best quizzes into a book that you can keep! Take our quizzes home, or purchase it as a gift for a friend.
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Question of
Which Dickens novel begins: ‘LONDON. Michaelmas Term lately over, and the Lord Chancellor sitting in Lincoln’s Inn Hall.’
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Oliver Twist
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Bleak House
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Question of
Which 1959 novel celebrates, Notting Hill, 1958 where rebellion and multiculturalism are stirring out of London’s post-war past.
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Bridget Jones’s Diary
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Absolute Beginners
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Question of
Which 2003 novel by Monica Ali’s follows Chanu and his family as they discover a rich and varied London, including the ‘delights’ of the East End?
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Brick Lane
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The Buddha of Suburbia
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Question of
‘Having lived in Westminster… one feels even in the midst of the traffic, or waking at night… a suspense… before Big Ben strikes. There! Out it boomed.’ Which Londoner?
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Nicholas Nickleby
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Mrs Dalloway
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Question of
Which 1995 comic novel chronicles a year in the life of a thirty-something single working woman living in London?
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Bridget Jones’s Diary
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Mrs Dalloway
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Question of
Which 1990 novel by Hanif Kureishi follows teenager, Karim, who is desperate to escape suburban South London for new experiences in 1970s London?
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The Buddha of Suburbia
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Bleak House
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Question of
Which Booker Prize nominee by Sarah Waters takes place in the gay community during World War Two?
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Casino Royale
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The Night Watch
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Question of
Which 2004 novel is set in 1948 and focuses on the diaspora of Jamaican immigrants, who have moved to England?
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Small Island
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A Study in Scarlet
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Question of
Which Rose Tremain novel follows Lev from Eastern Europe to London in the hope of work, friendship and a new sense of belonging?
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Neverwhere
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The Road Home
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Question of
One of Baker Street’s most famous literary residents appeared in print for the first time in 1887 in which novel?
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A Study in Scarlet
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The Road Home
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Question of
What is the name of Neil Gaiman’s first novel set in ‘London Below’, a magical realm coexisting with the more familiar ‘London Above’?
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London Fields
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Neverwhere
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Question of
‘Life and death went hand in hand; wealth and poverty stood side by side; repletion and starvation laid them down together. But it was London…’ which Dickens novel?
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Nicholas Nickleby
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Hawksmoor
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Question of
One of London’s most famous residents lives in a flat off the King’s Road, looked after by an elderly Scottish housekeeper. What 1953 book did he first appear in?
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London Belongs to Me
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Casino Royale
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Question of
Oscar Wilde’s only novel, a philosophical, Gothic story set in London that shocked many even after it had been censored.
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The Picture of Dorian Gray
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Sexing the Cherry
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Question of
Which 1945 novel by Norman Collins is a romp among the working classes of London just before the outbreak of World War Two?
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London Belongs to Me
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Brick Lane
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Question of
Which black comic, murder mystery by Martin Amis follows Nicola Six, who knows when she will be murdered so goes in search of her killer?
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Small Island
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London Fields
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Question of
Which novel tells parallel stories of an 18th century architect who builds seven London churches and a 1980s detective who investigates murders in the same churches?
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Hawksmoor
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The Picture of Dorian Gray
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Question of
Which novel by Jeanette Winterston is set in 17th century London and is about the journeys of The Dog Woman and her protégé, Jordan?
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Absolute Beginners
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Sexing the Cherry
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