Review ~ Abandoned London by Katie Wignall

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• Publisher : Amber Books (July 6, 2021) | Hardcover : 224 pages

With 150 outstanding color photographs, Abandoned London presents a poignant pictorial exploration of the English capital—from forgotten railways lines and underpasses to lost industrial places, movie theaters, churches, and cemeteries. London is both a bright, modern city with soaring skyscrapers as well as a metropolis hundreds of years old—and, despite its gleaming surface, there is another side to the city, one of secrets, dilapidation, and mystery. Wander through disused stations on the Underground; immense, ornate Victorian sewers and waterworks; crumbling but beautiful Art Deco cinemas and empty swimming pools; bombed-out churches and eerie docklands; and ruined mansions and overgrown cemeteries, all haunting relics from a time gone by. Arranged thematically from transport and industry to residential and recreational, these entries cover both the modern city and the historical metropolis. 

Book releases in the UK in May, and here in the US in July 2021. 

Pre-order at Amazon.

My Review  4 STARS!!!

Fascinating history of London and some of its most enigmatic buildings is contained within the pages of Abandoned London. The photography, coupled with the narrative, captivated me. As someone who will probably never travel to London, I was delighted to experience some of its lesser known history through the eyes of the storyteller and photographer. It’s wonderful that these places time may have forgotten are being resurrected in this book.

As someone who reads a lot mysteries my mind was quite intrigued by the car found when civil engineers drained Hampstead Heath in 2015. I want to know more about this and what they may have found inside the car.

One of the most amusing anecdotes is about a man who applied to the city to put in a tank and his application was approved. Except it wasn’t the kind of tank the city expected. It was a literal tank, as in military! That gave me a chuckle and made me contemplate what fun it would be to see something like that just sitting on a residential lot.

If you’re an armchair traveler, this book would definitely be a great choice. There are so many interesting accounts of history contained within. I received an electronic copy from the publisher through Netgalley. No compensation received.