London Under

In this vividly descriptive short study, Peter Ackroyd tunnels down through the geological layers of London, meeting the creatures that dwell in darkness and excavating the lore and mythology beneath the surface. There is a Bronze Age trackway below the Isle of Dogs, Anglo-Saxon graves rest under St. Pauls, and the monastery of Whitefriars lies beneath Fleet Street. To go under London is to penetrate history, and Ackroyd's book is filled with the stories unique to this underworld: the hydraulic device used to lower bodies into the catacombs in Kensal Green cemetery; the door in the plinth of the statue of Boadicea on Westminster Bridge that leads to a huge tunnel packed with cables for gas, water, and telephone; the sulphurous fumes on the Underground's Metropolitan Line. Highly imaginative and delightfully entertaining, London Under is Ackroyd at his best.

London has been under attack for literally centuries. Michael Foley’s book records the dramatic military history of the capital from Roman times until the Second World War and beyond. Throughout its early history London was at the centre of hostilities, not always instigated by foreign enemies, but more often from the city’s own inhabitants or those from other parts of Britain. As well as the terrible Blitz on London during the Second World War, earlier conflicts which made an impact on the city are also documented, including the Civil Wars of twelfth and seventeenth centuries, the wars between King John and the barons, uprisings against the poll tax, the Gordon Riots and numerous other rebellions and conflicts that have been largely forgotten in the twenty-first century. London Under Attack is a must-read for all those interested in military history as well as the turbulent history of our nation’s capital and draws some interesting comparisons between the past and modern times.

Six stories about Christmas and winter from award-winning writer, Jordi Llavina. Llavina's stories conjure up ghosts from the past, old loves and distant memories in six hauntingly written tales that focus on our relationships with our loved ones and ourselves over the Christmas period.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1883.

‘This fast, engrossing novel is enjoyable, cheerful, and accessible to new readers.’ — Publishers Weekly My name is Peter Grant, police officer, apprentice wizard and well dressed man about town. I work for ECD9, otherwise known as the Folly, and to the Murder Investigation Team as ‘oh god not them again.’ But even their governor, the arch sceptic and professional northerner DCI Seawoll, knows that sometimes, when things go bump in the night, they have to call us in. Which was why I found myself in an underground station at five o’clock, looking at the body of James Gallagher, US citizen and Arts Student. How did he avoid the underground’s ubiquitous CCTV to reach his final destination, and why is the ceramic shard he was stabbed with so strongly magical? As the case took me into the labyrinth of conduits, tunnels and abandoned bomb shelters that lay beneath the streets I realised that London below might just be as complicated and inhabited as London above. And worse, James Gallagher’s father is a US senator, so the next thing I know, I’ve got Special Agent Kimberley Reynolds of the FBI “liaising” with the investigation and asking awkward questions. Such as ‘just what are you guys hiding down here’ and ‘how did you conjure that light out thin air?’ LOCUS AWARD FINALIST FOR BEST FANTASY NOVEL Reviews for Whispers Underground ‘One of the most refreshing things about former Doctor Who writer Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London series of magical procedurals is that they are blessedly free of manufactured rivalries.... This fast, engrossing novel is enjoyable, cheerful, and accessible to new readers.’ — Publishers Weekly ‘Ben Aaronovitch writes some of the funniest prose in current fantasy. These books are extremely entertaining, mainly because narrator Peter Grant has a hilarious voice and a sly sense of humor... quirkily effective prose and dry humor, making it a pure pleasure to read.’ — Tor.com ‘The prose is witty, the plot clever and the characters incredibly likeable...’ — Time Out

Six stories about Christmas and winter from award-winning writer, Jordi Llavina. Llavina's stories conjure up ghosts from the past, old loves and distant memories in six hauntingly written tales that focus on our relationships with our loved ones and ourselves over the Christmas period.

Travel under the streets of London with this lavishly illustrated exploration of abandoned, modified, and reused Underground tunnels, stations, and architecture.