Underground: Tales for London

One of the wonderful secrets of the London Underground is that the trains and tunnels of the Waterloo & City line are often used in films. In this story by Joe Mungo Reed, the final in our podcast series, a daughter visits her film director father on set, to bring a family situation to his attention. In between takes, Laura contemplates their relationship, her childhood and her father’s character: his control, his absorption, his self-belief. Joe Mungo Reed was born in London and currently lives in Edinburgh. He has a degree in Politics and Philosophy from the University of Edinburgh and an MFA in Creative Writing from Syracuse University. His first novel We Begin Our Ascent (published in July 2018) is described by Man Booker Prize winner George Saunders as “a dazzling debut by an exciting and essential new talent.” Underground: Tales for London features original short stories by London-loving authors from across the world. Each story, written by a Borough Press author, will be available to Evening Standard readers as a free podcast, from standard.co.uk. You can pre-order We Begin Our Ascent by Joe Mungo Reed here

Northern Line is set during the Second World War. Grace, who works in the box office at a London theatre, finds herself caught at Hampstead tube station during an air-raid shelter. The action unfolds in the claustrophobic platform setting and the story explores equality and social responsibility.  Kat Gordon read English at Somerville College, Oxford and worked at Time Out briefly after graduating. She has travelled extensively in East Africa where she also worked as a teacher and an HIV counsellor. She received a distinction for her MA in creative writing from Royal Holloway and her second novel The Hunters is out this month. Kat has lived in Budapest and Reykjavik and is currently settled in north London with her partner and young son. Underground: Tales for London features original short stories by London-loving authors from across the world. Each story, written by a Borough Press author, will be available to Evening Standard readers as a free podcast, from standard.co.uk. You can buy The Hunters by Kat Gordon here

This episode is a piece of memoir, in which bestselling author Louisa strings moments from her life like beads along the pink ribbon of the Hammersmith & City Line, hooking a memory to each station, from a childhood spent in Paddington to sitting vigil by her beloved’s hospital bed in Euston. Louisa Young was born in London and read history at Cambridge. She is the award-winning author of fourteen books, including My Dear I Wanted to Tell You, The Heroes' Welcome and Devotion – three novels set across the early 20th century, following the Locke and Purefoy families from the outbreak of WW1 the 1930s; The Book of the Heart, a cultural history of that most vital organ, and A Great Task of Happiness, the biography of her grandmother Kathleen Scott, sculptor and widow of Scott of the Antarctic. She is the adult half of Zizou Corder, authors of the best-selling Lionboy trilogy, which is published in 36 languages. Her latest book is a memoir of her life with the composer Robert Lockhart — You Left Early: A True Story of Love and Alcohol (June 2018). Her debut album as a singer/songwriter, with her band Birds of Britain, is also called You Left Early (June 2018). Underground: Tales for London features original short stories by London-loving authors from across the world. Each story, written by a Borough Press author, will be available to Evening Standard readers as a free podcast, from standard.co.uk https://www.amazon.co.uk/You-Left-Early-Story-Alcohol/dp/0008265178