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London Particular
London Particular
Dec 5, 2025 6:53 AM

Author:Nick Perry,Ian Dunnett Jnr,Full Cast,Scarlett Brookes

London Particular

A child in an East End garden plays with an imaginary friend. One day she goes to the bottom of the garden and never returns. A homeless man desperately tries to stay awake, believing that whenever he falls asleep he wakes up in a different century. A London Underground maintenance engineer walks the two miles between adjacent stations in less than four minutes.

While travelling on the London Underground one afternoon, Alice meets the gaze of a man standing on the platform of a mysterious "ghost station". As her train hurtles into a tunnel, he's gone. She's convinced that the man was her brother Alan who has been missing presumed dead for the past five years.

This fleeting encounter is the beginning of Alice's increasingly bizarre, desperate and labyrinthine search for her missing brother, a journey that leads her back through time into London's past.

As Alice soon discovers, London is not one but many cities, a city of curious anomalies and dark secrets, of hidden portals to other dimensions, a city so vast and varied that the weird and the uncanny blend seamlessly with the ordinary, where the person sitting next to you on the bus, or walking beside you on the pavement, may in fact be a visitor from another time.

Alice . . . . . Scarlett Brookes

Alan . . . . . Ian Dunnett Jnr

Mum/Jackie . . . . . Jane Whittenshaw

Lizzie . . . . . Emma Handy

Dorian/Doctor/Churchill . . . . . Roger Ringrose

Simon/Morris . . . . . Joseph Ayre

Kelechi/Jack . . . . . Stefan Adegbola

Stefania/Jill . . . . . Charlotte East

Child/Isaac . . . . . Aaron Gelkoff

Pianist: Peter Ringrose

Directed by Sasha Yevtushenko

Reviews

Coming Up For Air confirms Sarah Leipciger as a major talent. A meditation on mortality and our will to survive and save, it's really bold in its weaving of three ingeniously linked storylines and rich in sensuous detail and vivid characterisation. I can't wait for her next.

—— Patrick Gale

A stunning, stirring story told with exceptional skill and rare beauty.

—— Terri White

Sarah Leipciger captures the nature of solitude and stillness in a way that no other writer does. THE MOUNTAIN CAN WAIT was a wonder. COMING UP FOR AIR expands her range even further, exploring that eerie shoreline where land and ocean meet, where breathing becomes drowning, and life teeters on the very edge.

—— Mark Haddon

An extraordinary, three-century braid of air and water: the way we float, the way we drown, the way we surface again against the odds.

—— Francis Spufford

Vivid, evocative, moving. I loved it

—— Claire Fuller

Here is a novel that dares to cross the boundaries of time, the elements, life and death, and does so with the twists and hooks and magic of a consummate story teller.

—— Rachel Joyce

Spellbinding and beautifully written . . . an extraordinary novel. I can’t wait to read what Leipciger writes next.

—— Carys Bray

Exceptional skill... exquisite descriptions... Fact and fiction flow together like two rivers conjoining and making together for the sea... a beautiful novel of compassion...

—— The New European

Dazzling . . . A stunning interwoven story of three threads set in different times and countries . . . I savoured every word of its beautiful prose.

—— Prima

Hauntingly melancholic and richly detailed

—— Scottish Herald.

Leipciger writes with great compassion and precision, her language is an exquisite mix of muscle and grace

—— Michèle Forbes

Writing to sink into. Just stunning.

—— Wyl Menmuir

Gripping from the first page.

—— Katy Khan

Captivating and thought-provoking . . . Leipciger is a masterful and brilliant storyteller . . . a fascinating and enthralling must-read.

—— Booklist

[A] dark study of toxic masculinity ... Deeply atmospheric and morbidly compelling, with a near-total commitment to character that suggests a powerful talent … Accomplished.

—— Guardian

Katz's debut is one that will have readers gripped from the very first words until the last - and a book that will stay with you for a long while afterwards.

—— Her.ie

[A] smart debut, both compelling and disturbing, delivered with the kind of confidence that makes me keen to see what Katz will come up with next.

—— A Life in Books Blog

[G]ripping debut … Here’s a page-turner you’ll devour before the week is out

—— Stylist Daily Newsletter

A razor sharp psychological deconstruction of the motivations, regrets and secrets behind a picture-perfect façade.

—— The Week

White-knuckle ride

—— RTE Guide

I really wanted to just press the book into anyone’s hands and say ‘please read this’! [...] An important read

—— Bookish Chat

Readers hungry for an in-depth study of a man searching for control, power and ownership will find satisfaction in A Good Man. But caveat emptor - this story inevitably hurtles at the end towards a chilling finale

—— Crime Review

This stellar debut from Ani Katz had us gripped from the beginning.

—— That’s Life!

[In A Town Called Solace] doubts, difficulties and uncertainties of the human condition are examined carefully in a way that is both heartbreaking and joyful

—— Bridie Pritchard , UK Press Syndication

Subtle and darkly funny, this tender novel unspools the interconnected lives of her beautifully drawn characters, as they grapple with grief and loss, while steadfastly hoping for a change of happiness in the face of life's uncertainties

—— Eithne Farry , UK Press Syndication

[Lawson] writes an unpretentious prose that zings with metaphorical vim and humour

—— Tablet, *Summer Reads of 2021*

Exquisitely poignant

—— Liane Moriarty , Good Housekeeping

[An] absorbing novel

—— Sunday Express, *Summer Reads of 2022*

An assured and engaging look at one of my favourite subjects: what we owe to other people. How long must we keep their secrets, and how long do we wait for those we love? Darkened by pain, A Town Called Solace is nonetheless a kindly book; Clara's lost sister flashes through it like a red-winged blackbird. Warm, clear, and beautifully grounded in the bedrock of the Canadian Shield

—— Marina Endicott, author of Good to a Fault and The Difference

'One of the best books I've read in a long time. Original, engaging and unforgettable'

—— Sunday Times bestselling author, Sarah Morgan

Beautifully written, thought provoking and uplifting, The Authenticity Project is a warm and endearing tale about truth, friendship and the power of connection. Pooley's characters will stay with you long after you turn the final page. It was a joy to read

—— Mike Gayle
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