The best books about London and love

A 90s classic. Written in the form of a personal diary, this is a warm, funny read about the 30-something, lovable, weight-obsessed, accident-prone Bridget, who lives alone in London. She’s reached the age when everyone is partnering up and friends and family want to know when she’s going to get married. She faithfully records her calorie-counting, excesses of wine and too many ciggies, her gossip with friends, and her attempts to forget the infuriatingly stuffy and elusive Mr. Right, otherwise known as Mr. Darcy, while having a fun relationship with Mr. Wrong, otherwise known as Daniel Cleaver, her boss. She also stumbles through several career faux pas, on her way to finding her perfect job. This book cheered me up at a difficult time in my life.

I have read this book several times, and always find more in it. Maurice Bendrix looks back on his four-year passionate affair with married Sarah Miles. But when she drops him, after a near-miss with an exploding bomb, his obsession turns to hate, and he agonises over what went wrong. Set in 1940s South London, in the Blitz, this is one of Greene’s Catholic novels and there are many one-sided conversations with God, as Bendrix questions his own behaviour, who Sarah really is, and the meaning of love and its place in the world. It is set in a part of London that I know very well and it’s fascinating to be able to picture the places he’s writing about, imagining them as they would have been in the 40s.

This is a slow-burn of a novel about two couples. Each character struggles to maintain their marriage under the pressure of children and modern life. Each tries to hold on to their own identity while existing inside a family. The novel looks at mental health, infidelity, cooking, and Black culture; it has a soundtrack, with songs that mean something to the characters and capture the essence of the time. The story is resonant with images of modern London. It asks a question about the centrality of the city and the anxiety that comes from leaving it.

I fell in love with this beautifully written book about female friendship, set-in modern-day London. The opening shows us three young women lounging in London Fields one summer, all of them filled with an indisputable sense that they are on the brink of life, their horizons lit up with promise. Ten years later, those promises have failed to materialize. The characters are confused, struggling, and envious of what each of the others has. All three are strong, flawed characters, and their lives, choices, and mistakes feel very real and poignant.

It's 1969, Phyllis is married to a kind man, with two children and a large house in suburban London. Her domestic world is not far removed from a dutiful 50s housewife’s. Then a much younger man, dashing, selfish, and a family friend, kisses her in a dark garden, and her life explodes. She abandons her family and moves to a shabby flat in Ladbroke Grove. A new world opens to her – she meets people of colour, artists, activists, drinkers, and idealists. She experiences sexual freedom and romantic love. Phyllis’s teenage daughter joins her in her new life, and mother and daughter must work out a different kind of relationship. I found myself feeling furious with Phyllis at the same time as emphasising with her.