Many notable works of fiction are set in London, the capital city of England and of the United Kingdom. The following is a selection; there are too many such fictional works for it to be possible to compile a complete list.
Contents
Folklore
Dick Whittington and His Cat (c. 1354–1423)
Early fiction
Geoffrey Chaucer — The Canterbury Tales (late 14th century)
Daniel Defoe — A Journal of the Plague Year (1722), Moll Flanders (1722)
19th century fiction
Many of Charles Dickens' most famous novels are at least partially set in London; including: Oliver Twist (1838), The Old Curiosity Shop (1840), A Christmas Carol (1843), David Copperfield (1850), Bleak House (1853), Little Dorrit (1857), A Tale of Two Cities (1859), Great Expectations (1861), Our Mutual Friend (1865), and The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1870)
William Makepeace Thackeray — Vanity Fair (1847)
Mark Twain — The Prince and the Pauper (1881)
Henry James — The Princess Casamassima (1886), A London Life (1888), What Maisie Knew (1897), In the Cage (1898)
Oscar Wilde — The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891)
H. G. Wells — The Invisible Man (1897), The War of the Worlds (1898)
20th century fiction
G. K. Chesterton — his allegorical works The Napoleon of Notting Hill (1904) and The Man Who Was Thursday (1908) both feature surreal depictions of London
Joseph Conrad — The Secret Agent (1907)
J. M. Barrie — Peter and Wendy (1904–1911)
Marie Belloc Lowndes — The Lodger (1913)
D. H. Lawrence — Sons and Lovers (1913)
P. G. Wodehouse — in his Jeeves and Wooster novels (1919 onwards), Wooster lives mainly in London, and is a member of the Drones Club
T. S. Eliot — his long poem The Waste Land (1922) makes frequent reference to the Unreal City
Virginia Woolf — Mrs Dalloway (1925)
Evelyn Waugh — Vile Bodies (1930)
Aldous Huxley — Brave New World (1932)
P. L. Travers — Mary Poppins (1934) Takes place on Cherry Tree Lane and at the Bank of England
Patrick Hamilton — 20,000 Streets Under the Sky (1935)
George Orwell — Keep the Aspidistra Flying (1936), Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949)
Cameron McCabe — The Face on the Cutting-Room Floor (1937)
T. H. White — The Sword in the Stone (1938)
Patrick Hamilton — Hangover Square (1941)
21st century fiction
Hanif Kureishi — Gabriel's Gift (2001)
John Lanchester — Mr Phillips (2001), Capital (2012)
Bernard Cornwell — Gallows Thief (2001)
Philip Reeve — Mortal Engines (2001), A Darkling Plain (2006), Fever Crumb (2009)
Zadie Smith — White Teeth (2000), NW (2012)
Miles Tredinnick — Topless, (2001)
Iain Banks — Dead Air (2002)
William Gibson — Pattern Recognition (2003)
Zoë Heller — Notes on a Scandal (2003)
Adam Thirlwell — Politics (2003)
Neal Stephenson — The Baroque Cycle (Quicksilver (2003), The Confusion (2004), The System of the World (2004))
Monica Ali — Brick Lane (2004)
Ben Elton — Past Mortem (2004)
A. N. Wilson — My Name Is Legion (2004)
Nick Hornby — A Long Way Down (2005)
Ian McEwan — Saturday (2005)
Will Self — The Book of Dave (2006)
Charles Finch — A Beautiful Blue Death (2007), The September Society (2008), The Fleet Street Murders (2009), A Stranger in Mayfair (2010)
Nursery rhymes
Several nursery rhymes mention places in London.
London Bridge is mentioned in London Bridge is falling down.
Oranges and Lemons mentions several London Churches.
Pop Goes the Weasel one version refers to the Eagle pub on the City Road.