Book
London
A group of fictional families carries the story of London from its prehistoric river settlement to the twentieth century. Successive generations experience Roman rule, Saxon and Viking conflict, the Norman Conquest, medieval commerce, Tudor religious change, plague, fire, industrial expansion and wartime bombing. The city itself provides the continuity as wealth, class, faith and neighbourhood repeatedly alter the lives of its inhabitants.
The fictional lineages allow the same streets and institutions to be viewed from different social positions. Changes in government or religion appear not only as national events but as alterations in work, marriage, property and neighbourhood. By returning repeatedly to the Thames and the expanding city, the novel makes urban growth itself the principal historical subject rather than any one dynasty or family.
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