Recent Readings - Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman

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This is one of the last book I read and I really enjoyed. Neverwhere is a novel by Neil Gaiman, and I am truly loving the style of this author. It is a fantasy novel set in London, and an interesting fact about it is that a mini series is also available. Both the book and the mini series have the same plot and characters, with a few little details changing from one to another (for example, the Floating Market is set in Harrods in the novel and under Battersea power station in the series, as the Harrods management changed their mind about filming in the store.

But lets start from the beginning. Everything starts with Richard Mayhew, a Scottish boy transferring to London. Here, he finds a good job, starts a career, rents a flat and gets engaged with beautiful Jessica. Unfortunately everything changes one night, when going out for dinner with Jessica they find a girl fainted in the street. Jessica would rather leave the girl there and keep on doing what they were supposed to, but Richard feels like he has to help the girl. He takes her and brings her to her flat, and very soon he finds out that with gesture of kindness he has destroyed his life.

The girl name is Door, and she comes from London Below. In this world, there are two cities London: London Above, where Richard and Jessica live, where all normal people live and work and that everybody knows. Then, there is London Below, populated by fairies, angels, demons, and people with special powers. Door comes from this world, where she and her family have special powers – the power of opening doors. Her family though has been killed, and she is the only one who managed to escape the two terrible demons-killers who slaughtered her family. Her goal now is revenge, and find out who and why killed her beloved.

So from the moment Richard helps Door he finds himself stuck in this world he had never heard before, a world he doesn't want to believe to. But as the counter effect of having helped Door is that the whole London Above forgets about him – even Jessica, even his work mates – Richard eventually decides to reach the girl and ask her to give him back his life.

Door would love to but she doesn't know how to do it; moreover, she has a mission to fulfil first.

I really liked this novel, not only because I love Gaiman's style and his stories, but also because it is set in London, a city where I used to live and that I know pretty well. Reading about all of those places I loved so much, and seeing them turned into magic places is just hilarious, and I really feel like suggesting this reading, especially in Summer, to everybody who loved visiting London. Visiting London Below will be as exciting, I promise!

I also am interested in watching the mini series, just to check the differences with the book. Let me know if you read this book already and if you ever have watched the mini series inspired by it!

As always, take care xoxo