Underground: Tales for London

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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

This is a story based on real events. In January 1862, Frederick Leyland, director of the National Telephone Company and one of the wealthiest men in England, mysteriously died on the platform at Blackfriars… Matthew Plampin read English and History of Art at the University of Birmingham and then completed a PhD at the Courtauld Institute of Art. He now lectures on nineteenth-century art and architecture. Plampin is the author of four previous novels, The Street Philosopher, The Devil’s Acre, Illumination and Will & Tom. His fifth novel Mrs Whistler is published in May 2018. He lives in London with his wife and 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 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mrs-Whistler-Matthew-Plampin/dp/0008163626

Margaret, the recently widowed narrator of this story, spots her husband Cyril, on the Circle Line, one week after the funeral. It turns out that the underground is: “‘where you go when you die,’ he said. ‘The underground. It’s the perfect opportunity to reflect. To think about what comes next. To wait for God to make a decision about why you’re there, I suppose.’” In Joanna’s story we hear a grieving woman coming to terms with her loss, and finding hope in her future, whilst traversing the city. Joanna Cannon is the author of the Sunday Times bestselling novels Three Things About Elsie and The Trouble with Goats and Sheep. Her writing has appeared in the Sunday Telegraph, Daily Mail and the Guardian, amongst others. She has appeared on BBC Breakfast, interviewed on BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio 5, and is a regular at literary festivals across the UK. Joanna left school at fifteen with one O-level and worked her way through many different jobs – barmaid, kennel maid, pizza delivery expert – before returning to school in her thirties and qualifying as a doctor. Her fascination with the tube, and the myriad possibilities within it, inspired this podcast series.https://www.amazon.co.uk/Three-Things-About-Elsie-LONGLISTED/dp/0008196915 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

My Beautiful Millennial is a story about a lonely yet predatory man and a vulnerable young woman who is trying to end their acquaintance. Trekking out across the Metropolitan Line from Aldgate to Amersham, Dido rehearses how she will leave Paul, the man who has taken her for dinner, to watch films, held her unwilling hand, back given her money, grabbed her jaw… The eldest of five sisters, Tamsin Grey spent her early childhood in England, Scotland and Zambia. Her family settled in south London where Tamsin still lives. She has worked as a cucumber picker, a yoga teacher, an oral historian, and as speechwriter to a secretary of state. Tamsin is a civil servant and SHE’S NOT THERE is her first novel.    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

In June 2007, a Kuwaiti tourist rides the Jubilee line, reflecting upon a great betrayal of his teenage daughter, Dahlia. He remembers the stories he would tell Dahlia as a child, tales of a parallel world inhabited by jinn. A world which perfectly overlaps our own, just as the underground mirrors the world sitting above it. As he passes each station, he considers his role as a father, and wonders if there is another world, brushing against this one, in which he was able to protect his daughter. Layla AlAmmar grew up in Kuwait, with an American mother and a Kuwaiti father, and has a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Edinburgh. Her work has appeared in Quail Bell Magazine, The Red Letters St Andrews Prose Journal, and Aesthetica Magazine where she was a finalist for the Creative Writing Award 2014. Her debut novel The Pact We Made will be published in March 2019. She currently lives in Kuwait and is a regular visitor to London, where she spent many summers as a child. 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