How well do you know literary London via its tube stations?
In The Book’s literary-themed map replaces stations with famous novels based on the area they were set in London, a nice way of sharing some my favourite books (which are also some of our most popular tours). How many do you know?
Oliver Twist is set around Islington. Clerkenwell Green (Farringdon being the closest station) is where poor Oliver Twist is wrongly accused of trying to pick the pocket of Mr Brownlow. Oliver Twist Tour starts where Charles Dickens wrote of Oliver’s first entry into London, Angel, in chapter 8. Book a private Oliver Twist tour.
Another Dickens classic, A Christmas Carol, is geographically focused around the street of Cornhill where Scrooge’s name was “good upon the change” i.e. the Royal Exchange. Camden is given a brief mention as that is where Bob Crachit and his family live. Our A Christmas Carol Tour starts at Monument and weaves its way through some of the most atmospheric narrow streets of the City of London where we connect the geographical locations with the novella. Book a private Christmas Carol tour.
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a book of two halves (quite literally). London is an important setting for this Victorian mystery, with its ever-present fog, socially stratified neighbourhoods, and societal contradictions in what appears to be, and what really is. The rich character of London is central to the story. Mr Utterson’s residence is in Cavendish Square (the same as Dr Watson in Sherlock Holmes) but Dr Jekyll’s residence (and therefore Mr Hyde’s) is briefly described as “a square in Soho” Our Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde tour starts in Covent Garden where much of the backstory of Robert Louis Stevenson and his work unfurls. We then move into Soho, to explore the darkened narrow as so well described in this gothic novella. Book a Private Jekyll and Hyde tour