The fifth book in a series by author/cartographer David Fathers, Diverse London takes forward the four previous books (three with a rivers theme and one covering the city’s gruesome history) by describing and illustrating 20 guided walks through London’s current and historically multicultural districts.
Diverse London continues the excellent format where the walk are illustrated with bespoke colour maps, which include the route lines themselves, landmarks, key buildings and tube/train stations. Each walk is also liberally illustrated with relevant colour sketches and graphics.
The 20 walks are split into 6 themes, each with two or more walks – Huguenot, Jewish, Chinese, Black, Irish and South Asian. The walks focus on the city centre and inner city – traditionally the immigrant settling point of London like many other cities, although some walks do venture well beyond this – to Limehouse in the east and to Southall in the west. The West End makes four appearances, such is its cultural evolution through the centuries. Each walk is between 1 and 5 miles.
Attractively presented in a compact format ideal for carrying on a walk, and coming in at just over 100 pages, Diverse London is published by Conway, a Bloomsbury imprint, and is on sale from Amazon and all good bookstores from 14 April.
