10th April Newsletter
What’s On At Veranda
Welcome! We’ve been inspired this week by the long-anticipated publication of London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe, which has made us think about our city, the people we share it with, and the stories they have to tell. At the heart of Keefe’s brilliant book is a heartrending family tragedy – the loss of a son, and the family’s ongoing quest for answers. Yet, he also depicts a city we’re uncomfortably aware of, but don’t truly recognise as ‘ours’. A city of excessive wealth, greed, crime, and the politics that have allowed this to flourish. This week’s newsletter is a reflection on the city we know and love – where myriad realities coexist.
Shop News
London as literature
Naturally, much of our conversation at the shop this week centred on London as it features in literature. We wondered, does London shape its writers, or do the books they write define our city, its many corners, its changes in fortune? In 2026, can we still detect the bleaker aspects of Charles’ Dickens’ novels? How would a contemporary Mrs Dalloway’s day compare to Virginia Woolf’s vision set in June, 1923?
Perhaps it’s because we’re such committed Londoners, but ‘London books’ have always loomed large in the team’s lives. While others may have been fretting about the Millenium Bug, Leo and Alison spent much of the year 2000 raving about Zadie Smith’s impeccable debut, White Teeth, having spent the latter part of the ‘90’s relating to Bridget Jones, whose diary, created by Helen Fielding had been catapulted from newspaper column to bestseller.
We’ve read our way around numerous postcodes, from Martin Amis’s Notting Hill (London Fields, The Rachel Papers), to Caleb Azumah Nelson’s south-east (Open Water) and Yasmin Cordery Khan’s super-local Edgware Road. And who can resist the nostalgia of ‘bygone Londons’, shades of which still linger over the meteoric modernisation of our capital: the nascent mod scene of Colin MacInnes’s Absolute Beginners, the West End of the 1930’s in children’s classic Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild, or the culture clashes of the 70’s and 80’s in Hanif Kureishi’s masterpiece The Buddha Of Suburbia.
We have so many favourites, but here’s a selection of the team’s top London picks:
- Emily: Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton. A love letter to the most formative relationships of her life – her female friendships – with London as the perfect backdrop for the wild, booze-fuelled joys of her twenties. Dolly Alderton’s book is the ultimate coming-of-age story
- Leo: NW by Zadie Smith. I first read NW as London was coming down from the collective hangover of the joyful days of the 2012 Olympic Games. Possibly her most wide-ranging novel, in that a lot of the action takes place outside of her beloved NW10, moving into the city, to Notting Hill and Maida Vale, then back to the outer reaches of North London. This is a compelling portrait of a city that is constantly in flux, always shapehifting.
- Alison: Home: The Story of Everyone Who Ever Lived in Our House by Julie Myerson. Myerson’s house in Clapham was built in 1877, and she waded through archives and records to learn more about its previous inhabitants. Completely fascinating, it made me think much more deeply about the everyday history of this complex city.
Meet the neighbours!
We know it’s hard to believe, given our youthful demeanour, but the Veranda team have spent a collective 125 years living in London. Emily and Leo: born and bred, Alison, arrived in ‘93 and never looked back. We always want to know what brings people to London – for a visit or to live, so we checked in on some of our Seymour Place friends and are delighted to introduce you to…
- Mandy Zhang Art: Mandy moved here 7 years ago from Chengdu, China. She loves London’s diversity, its international culture and the party scene. Chloi is from Athens, Greece and has lived in London for 13 years. She finds London to be “the most tolerant city in the world”. (Visit mandyzhang.art for details of the outstanding current exhibition by Turkish artist Mustafa Boğa)
- T by Tamara: Tamara is Palestinian-
Jordanian and has been in London for 5 years. Her favourite thing about London is its openness and diversity. (NB Tamara’s cafe is a haven of Palestinian hospitality and delicious food – highly recommend!) - Seymour Kitchen: Beula is from Kerala, India and a recent graduate in Psychology. She loves London for its diversity and for the career opportunities. And it also matters to her that this city offers so many different ‘life options’, and zero judgement.
Now Booking
May events at Veranda
We’re not kidding: May is jam-packed with events, and we’re so excited by our line-up. More information can be found on our booking site, Ticketsource (link below) – or call in at the shop and we can tell you more.
We’ve introduced a nominal ticket price, which covers a complementary glass of wine – and can be redeemed against the purchase of any book on the night. However, newsletter subscribers get priority: there are always a few free tickets available for early booking or via the shop (another reason to call in!).
- 7th May – Talking Anger with Jennifer Cox and Sam Parker
- 12th May – Pedro Carmona-Alvarez, author of Chiquitita (tr. Seán Kinsella) in conversation
- 14th May – Ben Faccini, author of Other People’s Children, in conversation with writer and journalist MZ Adnan
- 18th May – Artem Chapeye, author of The Weathering (tr. Daisy Gibbons) in conversation with Uilleam Blacker from UCL
- 21st May – Liliana Colanzi, author of You Glow in the Dark (tr. Chris Andrews) in conversation
- 28th May – Imani Thompson, author of Honey and Leodora Carrington, author of The Exes, in conversation with journalist Madeleine Feeny
Our events always start at 6.30 with friendly drinks and chitchat upstairs, before heading downstairs for conversation 7-8. Spaces are limited, and tend to fill up quickly – hope to see you at something soon!
Our Recommended Reads
London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe
Unsurprisingly, we’re only recommending one book this week – and it’s a unanimous Veranda pick. In 2019, teenager Zac Brettler fell to his death from a luxury Thames-side apartment. His grieving parents discovered that he’d been masquerading as the son of a Russian oligarch, a decision which led to his immersion in London’s money- and crime-infested underworld. Investigative journalist par excellence, Patrick Radden Keefe investigates the decisions Zac made which led him to that balcony – and in doing so shines a light on how this underworld has flourished in London, and how police and politicians have dealt with it (or indeed, enabled it). A jaw-dropping, page-turning must-read.
What we’re loving this week…
Emily‘s perfect London day begins with a lazy start in bed reading all the Sunday papers cover to cover. Multiple coffees later, she’d leave the house to amble down her local high street in Acton, dropping in at Layla’s bakery and the local charity shop before strolling around the park and eventually ending up at an old-mannis London boozer (new fave is the Hawthorn in Shepherd’s Bush) where we’d have a long, boozy lunch and while away the rest of the afternoon chatting. Act9n has such a great community spirit that it feels like living in a village – one of my favourite things about London is how all these little corners of the city have their own distinct identities.
Leo would wake up to sun, ideally. Go for a long walk (to offset the early morning overthinking) along Parkland Walk from Crouch End to Finsbury Park boating lake. Feed the ducks and the scary swans (oats not bread). Walk back to Crouch End for coffee at Velasquez and Van Wezel. Long Turkish lunch with my dearest friend, Rezan, at Hala on Green Lane. Browse old books at Oxfam Crouch End, buy another large pile. Early evening film (with subtitles, obviously), at Arthouse, Crouch End.
Alison would ideally start the day with a run along the river, from Albert Bridge to Tate Britain. And the day would end with a gig at the Windmill or Cafe Oto or anywhere in between. As for how to fill the interim hours…brunch at Beam in Westbourne Grove or at Iznik in Highbury? A trip to the British Museum to contemplate Lindow Man (or from September, the Bayeux Tapestry) or the Photographers Gallery in Soho, a reliable source of inspiration. Then down to Reckless Records on Berwick St followed by a coffee or aperitivo at Bar Italia. Ask me on a different day, and the itinerary would change completely – a matinee screening or a windy walk on the Heath, London truly has it all.
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