Many works of fiction are set in London, the capital of the United Kingdom.

Early Fiction

• Daniel Defoe - A Journal of the Plague Year (1722)

19th Century fiction

• Many of Charles Dickens's most famous novels are at least partially set in London, including: Oliver Twist (1838), The Old Curiosity Shop (1840), Bleak House (1853), Little Dorrit (1857), A Tale Of Two Cities (1859), Great Expectations (1861), Our Mutual Friend (1865).
• Bram Stoker's Dracula comes to London in order to seduce Mina Harker.
• Henry James - The Europeans (1878), Daisy Miller (1879)
• Somerset Maugham - Liza of Lambeth (1897)
• Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories. Holmes live at 221B Baker Street - a fictional address since Baker Street was much shorter in Victorian times. The Docklands area plays a large part in The Sign of Four.

20th Century fiction

Prewar fiction

• P. G. Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster novels (1919 onwards). Wooster lives mainly in London, and is a member of the Drones Club.
• T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land makes frequent reference to the Unreal City.
• Chesterton's allegorical works The Man Who Was Thursday and The Napolean of Notting Hill both feature surreal depictions of London.
• Pamela L. Travers' Mary Poppins (1934). Takes place on Cherry Tree Lane and at the Bank of England.
• Patrick Hamilton - Hangover Square (1941)

Postwar Fiction

• Elizabeth Bowen - The Heat of the Day (1949)
• Graham Greene - The End of the Affair (1951)
• Samuel Selvon - Lonely Londoners (1955)
• Colin McCabe's City of Spades (1957), Absolute Beginners (1959) and Mr Love and Justice (1960)
• Doris Lessing - The Four-Gated City (1969)
• Maureen Duffy - Capital (1975)
• Peter Ackroyd - Hawksmoor (1985)
• Iain Banks - Walking on Glass (1985), Dead Air (2002)
• Martin Amis - Money (1984), London Fields (1989)
• Hanif Kureishi - The Buddha of Suburbia (1987)
• Salman Rushdie - The Satanic Verses (1989)
• Nick Hornby - Fever Pitch (1992), High Fidelity (1996)
• Will Self - Grey Area (1996)
• Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere (1997) is set partly in real London, and partly in an alternative "London Below".
• J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series (1997 onwards) features fictional London locations: the hidden Diagon Alley and a Platform 9 and 3/4 at Kings Cross.
• Julian Barnes - Metroland (1997)
• Helen Fielding - Bridget Jones' Diary (1997)
• William Boyd - Armadillo (1998)

21st-Century Fiction

• Zadie Smith - White Teeth (2001)
• Monica Ali - Brick Lane (2004)

Nursery Rhymes

Several nursery rhymes mention places in London. London Bridge is obviously mentioned in London Bridge is falling down. Oranges and Lemons mentions several London Churches. One version of Pop Goes The Weasel refers to the Eagle pub on the City Road.