Londoners: The Days and Nights of London Now--As Told by Those Who Love It, Hate It, Live It, Left It, and Long for It

· Sold by Harper Collins
9 reviews
Ebook
448
Pages
Eligible

About this ebook

“A rich and exuberant kaleidoscopic portrait of a great, messy, noisy, daunting, inspiring, maddening, enthralling, constantly shifting Rorschach test of a place. . . . Delightful. . . . In Taylor’s patient and sympathetic hands, regular people become poets, philosophers, orators.” -- New York Times Book Review

Londoners is a fresh and compulsively readable view of one of the world's most fascinating cities–a vibrant narrative portrait of the London of our own time, featuring unforgettable stories told by the real people who make the city hum.

Acclaimed writer and editor Craig Taylor has spent years traversing every corner of the city, getting to know the most interesting Londoners, including the voice of the London Underground, a West End rickshaw driver, an East End nightclub doorperson, a mounted soldier of the Queen's Life Guard at Buckingham Palace, and a couple who fell in love at the Tower of London—and now live there. With candor and humor, this diverse cast—rich and poor, old and young, native and immigrant, men and women (and even a Sarah who used to be a George)—shares indelible tales that capture the city as never before.

Together, these voices paint a vivid, epic, and wholly original portrait of twenty-first-century London in all its breadth, from Notting Hill to Brixton, from Piccadilly Circus to Canary Wharf, from an airliner flying into London Heathrow Airport to Big Ben and Tower Bridge, and down to the deepest tunnels of the London Underground. Londoners is the autobiography of one of the world's greatest cities.


  • A Sweeping Social History: Discover modern Britain through the candid and unforgettable voices of its people—from currency traders and street cleaners to dominatrices and the pilot of a Heathrow-bound flight.
  • An Intimate Portrait of London: Journey beyond the tourist landmarks into the real, lived-in city, from the immigrant communities of the East End to the corridors of power in the Square Mile, as told by the people who know it best.
  • Voices of a Global City: Experience the triumphs, frustrations, and quiet moments of urban life, including the story of a couple who fell in love at the Tower of London and the confessions of a former Londoner who couldn’t wait to leave.
  • Urban Exploration: Follow author Craig Taylor as he traverses every corner of the metropolis, from the deepest Underground tunnels to the sky above, collecting the stories that make up the city’s true autobiography.
“A rich and exuberant kaleidoscopic portrait of a great, messy, noisy, daunting, inspiring, maddening, enthralling, constantly shifting Rorschach test of a place. . . . Delightful. . . . In Taylor’s patient and sympathetic hands, regular people become poets, philosophers, orators.” -- New York Ti...

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Ratings and reviews

9 reviews
Patrick Pichette
April 2, 2013
A perfect read for someone who already has lived in London and who is longing for a jolt of the buzz and smells of the city. If I had never lived/often visited London, I am not sure I would have appreciated the book do the same extent.
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About the author

Craig Taylor is the author of Return to Akenfield and One Million Tiny Plays About Britain, both of which have been adapted for the stage. He is also the editor of the literary magazine Five Dials. He lives in London.

Craig Taylor is the author of Return to Akenfield and One Million Tiny Plays About Britain, both of which have been adapted for the stage. He is also the editor of the literary magazine Five Dials. He lives in London.

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