We all know how rich the culture of South London is, which is why it makes such a good setting for a novel! We’ve selected these 15 novels that take place either in South London as a whole, or in specific areas that we think are worth checking out. Whether you’re just looking for a new book to reach for or want to tailor your reading to something more local, here’s 15 inspiring novels set in South London!
Cover photo credit: Stewart Butterfield
The Walworth Beauty by Michèle Roberts
Walworth
The Walworth Beauty was published in 2017 and follows the story of two individuals spanning decades that gradually becoming intertwined. In 2011, Madeleine is going through hard times, having lost her job as a lecturer. This leads her to move into Apricot Place, that resides in a quaint cul-de-sac in Walworth. In 1851, Joseph Benson has been employed by Henry Mayhew to aid his research on articles discussing the working classes. Within the novel, we read about Benson roaming the streets of Southwark and seeking solace in no other than Apricot Place. This novel explores the connection between these two characters and how Madeleine still feels the presence of Joseph Benson in her new home.
“The terraced cul-de-sac drew its name from the former orchard on the site. Those fruit trees had been felled, their roots torn up. Now Apricot Place had planes newly planted along it, and a brick coach-house forming it end.”
Credit: Matt Brown
The Lonely Londoners by Sam Selvon
Waterloo
The Lonely Londerers, in a nutshell, explores immigrant life in London in the 1950s. Our main character, Moses, frequently visits the Waterloo area during the novel, hopping back and forth across the river throughout the story. Moses is a West Indian, who fleas to London in search of a new life after the war. Our protagonist quickly has these idealisations shattered and we see through his eyes the harsh life of an immigrant during this turbulent time. The Lonely Londoners is a harrowing, yet inspiring story of camaraderie and unity in struggles.
“ One grim winter evening, when it had a kind of unrealness about London, with a fog sleeping restlessly over the city and the lights showing in the blur as if it is not London at all but some strange place on another planet.”
Credit: themostinept
The Colour Of Memory by Geoff Dyer
Brixton
Set in the vibrant setting of Brixton in the 1980s, The Colour of Memory follows six characters throughout their mid-twenties, from parties to the highs and lows of job hunting, drugs and crime. This gritty novel has an incredible sense of realism at its heart, exploring the real struggle of young people in the 1980s in South London, with Geoff Dyer creating a haunting depiction of this era, with all its loves and losses.
“Being evicted from a house was a new experience for me but getting sacked was something I’d always had a talent for.”
Credit: David Shankbone
Battersea Power Station SW8 - Giclée Art Print
Peckham 90s Style Unisex T-Shirt
Blackheath by Adam Baron
Blackheath
As the title suggests, this novel takes place in Blackheath, following the journey of two couples with intertwining stories. Exploring themes like gender politics and parenting, this poignant novel explores the trials and tribulations of modern family living and how love may not be the answer to all of life’s problems. We follow Amelia and James in their respective marriages, Baron taking a deeper dive into the underbelly of seemingly idyllic love stories.
“She feels nothing. There is an absence where love should be. A long, flat greyness. Another absence: guilt...Yet she feels no guilt at all for this lack of love, feels nothing in fact expect relief.”
Credit: Herry Lawford
Serious Sweet by A.L. Kennedy
Telegraph Hill
Parts of this novel is set all over London, with one of the characters, Meg Williams, living in South London’s Telegraph Hill. Serious Sweet follows the lives of Meg Williams and Jon Sigurdsson, two people trudging through their lives and dealing with their damaged selves. Set in 2014, we see our two protagonists realise the bittersweet sorrows of living in England’s capital. Kennedy writes a modern morality tale in this novel, showing characters searching for tenderness in a supposed harsh world.
“A family sits on a Tube train. They are all in a row and taking the Piccadilly Line. They have significant amounts of luggage. They seem tired and a little dishevelled, are clearly arriving from somewhere far away.”
Credit: Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung
Up The Junction by Nell Dunn
Battersea
Up The Junction chronicles life in industrial Battersea in the early 1960s. This gritty novel presents the nuances of this time, from petty thievery, brief sexual encounters and common birth and death. Despite the short length of only 120 pages, this whirlwind of a novel is a snapshot of this turbulent time period, with the poetic language of Nell Dunn guiding us through the tale.
“We stand, the three of us, me, Sylvie and Rube, pressed up again the saloon door, brown ales clutched in our hands.”
Credit: Jeremy Crawshaw
The Treatment by Mo Hayder
Brockwell Park and Brixton
This crime novel follows Detective Inspector Jack Caffery as he traces the events of a crime in Brockwell Park. A husband and wife are found beaten half to death, with their young son missing. Throughout the story, Hayder drops subtle similarities between the crime and Caffery’s own past with plenty of sinister twists and turns along the way. This nightmarish novel delves into the true evil people are capable of; only the bravest of readers will be able to stomach reading this in the dark!
“When it was all over, DI Jack Caffert, South London Area Major Investigation Team (AMIT), would admit that, of all the things he had witnessed in Brixton that cloudy July evening, it was the crows that jarred him the most.”
Credit: Berit Watkin
Tastes Like Fear by Sarah Hilary
Battersea
The second crime novel on our list, Tastes Like Fear follows DI Marine Rose as her investigation into a mysterious car crash takes her to the vulnerable community in the shadow of Battersea Power Station. It explores those who fall between the cracks of South London, with a writing style that is both compassionate and punchy. Telling the story of a runaway who has lost her way, Tastes Like Fear is a rollercoaster of a novel that will never fail to steer you off course.
“Rain had blunted all of London’s spires, flattened her high-rises, buried her tower blocks in puddles of mud. Even the chimneys at Battersea Power Station were laid low, their long reflections boiling in the water.”
Credit: Tigertrapped
Clapham 90s Style Unisex T-Shirt
Brixton Lambeth Town Hall SW2 - Giclée Art Print
The End Of The Affair by Graham Greene
Clapham Common
The End Of The Affair follows the first person narrative of Maurice Bendrix and his adulterous affair with Sarah Miles. Now that Sarah has been dead for a year, we read of Bendrix’s path to redemption. Hate is an emotion that it at the centre of this novel and is explored deeply, with Bendrix convinced he despises Sarah and her husband Henry. This novel was also adapted into the 1955 movie of the same name. Clapham Common also becomes an emotional centre to the story.
“ A story has no beginning or end: arbitrarily one chooses that moment of experience from which to look back or from which to look ahead.”
The Ballad Of Peckham Rye by Muriel Spark
Peckham Rye
You may recognise this author from her other well-known books: The Driver’s Seat and The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie. In this novel, Spark explores life in a blue-collar town, where protagonist Dougal Douglas is hired to do ‘human research’ into the lives of Peckham’s workforce. What ensues in a nutshell is mayhem, mutiny and murder. Reviewers find Spark’s descriptions captivating and efficient, creating an overall atmospheric image of Peckham.
““Get away from here, you dirty swine,” she said. “There’s a dirty swine in every man,” she said.”
Credit: Matthew Black
Poor Cow by Nell Dunn
Battersea
Another Nell Dunn featuring on our list, Poor Cow follows the story of our protagonist Joy living in the poor districts of South London. Joy finds solace in her week-old baby, Jonny. With clothes that don’t quite fit and dreams that feel unattainable, we sympathise with Joy, especially when things take a turn for the worse as her husband is sent to prison. This novel is a perfect example of a slice of life that depicts human struggle and motherhood.
“She walked down Fulham Broadway past a shop hung about with cheap underwear, the week-old baby clutched in her arms, his face brick red against his new white bonnet.”
Credit: Jeremy Crawshaw
The Family Arsenal by Paul Theroux
Deptford
The Family Arsenal focuses on Hood, an American diplomat who gets thrust into this fictional world of South London terriorism. The novel’s plot quickly spirals following one spontaneous killing that sends Hood down a dark path and his immersion into this crime-ridden atmosphere. Set in a nondescript house in Deptford, this heart-racing thriller packs a hard punch!
“Seated on a cushion at the upstairs window of the tall house, Hood raised the cigarette to the sun and saw that it was half full of the opium mixture.”
Credit: Ramnarasimhan
Wise Children by Angela Carter
Brixton
You may know Angela Carter from her better-known book The Bloody Chamber, but Wise Children follows two sisters Dora and Nora Chance who are a part of a dance team of the British music halls. The sisters live in Brixton and the novel explores their lives as chorus girls. This was actually Carter’s last novel before her death and is a beautiful depiction of her love affair with Shakespeare’s work and fairytales. The image below shows the blue plague of Angela Carter that you can find in The Chase in Clapham.
“Good morning! Let me introduce myself. My name is Dora Chance. Welcome to the wrong side of the tracks.”
Credit: Spudgun67
Ordinary People by Diana Evans
South London
Set in South London, 2008, Ordinary People follows the story of two couples on the brink of either acceptance or revolution. On one end we have Melissa, who has a new baby and feels herself slowly disappearing into the shadows. Then we have Michael, who struggles to connect with this wife Melissa and instead turns to other means of human connection. Meanwhile in the South London suburbs, Stephanie loves Damian and their three children, but one tragedy turns their perfect picture upside down. Ordinary People quickly becomes an intense character study following themes like parenthood, grief and aging.
“The Wileys were originally from north of the river and had moved to the south for its creative energy and the charisma of its poverty (they were conscious of their privilege and wanted to be seen as having survived it spiritually.)”
The Buddha Of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi
South London
Karim Amir lives with his English mother and Indian father in suburban South London. The Buddha Of Suburbia is an evocative and entertaining novel chronicling Karim’s experiences as a bi-racial Londoner and his fascination with both halves of his culture. Set in the 1970s, we experience Karim’s confrontations with subtle, and no-so-subtle, racism first hand and how this affects the rest of his life. This novel is an enchanting coming-of-age tale that leaves the reader having formed a special and intimate bond with our protagonist.
“My name is Karim Amir, and I am an Englishman born and bred, almost. I am often considered to be a funny kind of Englishman, a new breed as it were, having emerged from two old histories.”
Credit: Nrbelex
What Is the South London Club?
The South London Club is a local discount card to help support small independent businesses across South London whilst saving all who live, work & play in South London money! With over 850+ local discounts to choose from, you will discover & explore all the best hidden gems in South London. Join over 7,000 of us & celebrate all that's independent & South London!