On my blog today, I am throwing the spotlight onto TIM WALKER’s London Tales, a new edition of the book of historical short stories Tim first released in 2023. London Tales is a volume of sixteen stories that offer glimpses into dramatic moments of London’s two thousand years of history, starting with the Romans in 60CE, then crossing the centuries right up to 2005. It promises a fascinating and exhilarating read.
What is the book about?
London Tales is a collection of sixteen tales that offer dramatic pinpricks in the rich tapestry of London’s timeline, a city with two thousand years of history. They are glimpses of imagined lives at key moments, starting with a prologue in verse from the point of view of a native Briton tribeswoman absorbing the shock of Roman invasion. Then there’s a tale set in Roman Londinium in 60 CE, from the perspective of terrified legionaries and townsfolk facing the vengeful Iceni queen, Boudica, whose army burnt the fledgling city to the ground.
From Roman Londinium there’s a jump to Saxon Lundenwic in the late eighth century, then onward to the medieval city in 1381 at the time of the Peasant’s Revolt. Then a jump to the second significant conflagration, the Great Fire of London, in 1666. From there the reader is transported to 1814 and the last ice fair on the frozen River Thames in the year before the battle of Waterloo, then onto an unnerving tale of copycat killings based on the 1888 Jack the Ripper murders. This is followed by a fraught romance set during the Blitz in 1941; then the swinging Sixties and wide-flared seventies are remembered in the life story of fictional policeman, Brian Smith. There’s a series of contemporary stories that reference recent history and current affairs, including the London terrorist bombings of 2005; a literary pub crawl and a daring prison break, building to the imagined death throes of London in a dystopian vision.
These stories are inspired by the author’s love of history, personal experiences and reflections on his time living and working in London in the 1980’s and 90’s. Adaptability, resilience, conformity and resolve are recurring themes in these stories.
For ten years the author was one of thousands of commuters who’d pour in daily from outlying suburbs to feed the insatiable economic appetite of the city. London’s a busy and at times unfriendly place, driven by the productivity of its inhabitants and set against an incredible landscape of history, art, architectural and cultural development. It both inspires and tires in equal measure.
London Tales is a companion volume to Thames Valley Tales.
Read a couple of extracts…
Extract from From Sweetness Came Strength
This story is set in the year 799 CE. Lud is an 11-year-old Briton slave boy to the Saxon blacksmith Eadric, in the settlement of Lundenwic, on high ground to the west of the walled city of London…
Lud paused to rest outside the gates and glanced to his left at the bustling activity along the wooden jetties where rows of sea-going ships rocked and groaned at their moorings. The morning fog was slowly lifting to reveal foreign merchants in fancy hats haggling with Saxon Thegns over the value of imported goods to be traded for bundles of animal pelts, textiles or metal-worked goods. Now in his eleventh year, Lud dreamed of going on a ship and sailing beyond Lundenwic Bridge to the wide sea and foreign lands.
He sighed, slung the sack on his shoulders in a well-practiced move and carried on towards the Saxon settlement. He had heard the warriors in the mead hall at night boast about how their forefathers had despised all things Roman and chosen to build a village that reminded them of their homes in forest clearings in Germanica. He had also learnt that some had feared the ghosts of the dead whom they believed inhabited the old, strange buildings – another reason to boycott the old town. They told tales of battles against the last great Briton war leader, Arthur, whom they respected as resistance had collapsed after his death. Lud imagined himself as a descendant of this warlike Arthur, and longed to be trusted with greater responsibility, to wield the hammer and show what he was capable of now he was on the cusp of manhood.
His walk was uphill after crossing a footbridge over the Walbrook stream, returning into the morning fog that clung to the upland on which the settlement sat, hovering like a damp shroud. It softened the clang of Eadric’s hammer as he shaped a glowing bar of iron on the anvil. Sparks leapt in brief, bright arcs, dancing around his boots before fading into the packed earth of the forge as Lud approached. Eadric’s eight-year-old daughter, Alda, sat nearby on her favourite stool, swinging her legs and humming tunelessly; the warmth of the fire had painted her cheeks pink. She prodded struggling flies in a dish of honey and water with a stick.
“Why do you kill flies with honey, Father?” she innocently asked, knowing full well the answer.
Eadric smiled and replied, “The flies like the warmth of the forge and bother me with their buzzing, my sweet one. ‘Tis a kindly, sweet ending for them, and relief for me.”
“Am I sweet like honey?” she asked, enjoying her father’s attention.
“You are the honey in my pot, dear Alda.” He then turned his attention to Lud. “Stow the charcoal sack, Lud, and slake your thirst. Then sit with Alda for a while.”
Lud dragged the sack into the woodshed, which also served as his bedroom. His simple wood-frame bed, wool-stuffed mattress and thin blanket was against the wall behind the forge, where warmth from the dying coals would help him find sleep. He slung his leather jerkin onto his bed and smiled when he noticed Alda had straightened his blanket and the small wood carvings that represented his birth parents on an upturned box behind the bed.
The clucks of chickens pecking at worms and the murmur of women’s voices interspersed with the bangs of wool-teasing looms in an adjacent shed were all part of the rhythm of life on a morning like any other – busy, steady, predictable – until the distant sound of shouting drifted through the mist, followed by loud oaths that froze Eadric’s hammer mid‑swing.
<<<<>>>>
Extract from Burning Shadows
Following a year of plague, a second calamity struck the hapless city dwellers of London in September 1666 – a great fire that was moved westward and burned for four days. In this extract, fugitive William Say has brought danger to his daughter’s family, as they flee the twin threats of the fire and the sheriff’s men…
An explosion coming from the river caused gasps and glances in that direction. “A warehouse has exploded!” a man next to them exclaimed. “’Tis the Dutch – they are storing gunpowder in our city to attack us!” another shouted.
The sound urged the harried Londoners to redouble their efforts to escape the pall of black smoke rising from the glowing inferno barely three streets behind them. The fire was spreading quickly in a pernicious, swirling wind.
Reverend Swallow had removed the tall, black hat that marked him out as a Puritan to wipe the sweat from his brow. “’Tis the end of days as told in the Book of Revelation, in this cursed year bearing the number of the beast, 666.”
The stern expressions around him showed this was of little comfort to his group of family and fellow believers. Any further revelations were halted by the splintering of wood accompanied by the groan of collapsing buildings as the insatiable fire ate up the flimsy houses in its path. They felt a rush of hot air on their necks as they picked up their carts and guided them down Ludgate Hill towards the Ludgate – the most westerly gate out of the old medieval walled city.
“We must look for my father amongst the crowd,” Goody Swallow shouted above the noise of braying donkeys, honking geese, clucking hens, and the fretful utterances of the fleeing tide of humanity, most of whom had given up their homes and possessions to the greedy flames. A dog snapped at Ruth who cried out in fear, causing her mother to beat the dog away with her staff. The crowd was bunching together as they approached the entrance to the stone gatehouse that was their route to safety.
“Over here!” William Say’s firm, commanding voice floated out of the gloom of the gatehouse passage. The Swallows angled their carts towards the damp, brick wall of the ancient archway where William was waiting. He hugged his daughter and granddaughter. “I am much cheered on this miserable day to greet you all,” he muttered, shaking his son-in-law’s hand.
“Thank the Lord you’re safe, William,” Reverend Swallow said, reluctant to let go of his hand.
“And thanks to little Ruthie for finding me and warning me off from returning to your house.” He pinched the gleeful girl’s cheek.
“Aye, but the sheriff’s dogs will no doubt be on our trail. Come, let us hurry to my meeting house beyond the Strand.” They rejoined the throng moving west, crossing a bridge over the River Fleet that joined the Thames just a hundred yards to their left, then uphill along Fleet Street.
Book details
The second edition of London Tales was published this year, and is available as an eBook and in paperback, and also as an audiobook, narrated by Richard James.
London Tales is also available to read in Kindle Unlimited.
About the author
Tim Walker is an independent author living near Windsor in the UK.
Born in Hong Kong in the Sixties, Tim grew up in Liverpool where he began his working life as a trainee reporter on a local newspaper. He went on to attain an honours degree in Communication Studies at the University of Glamorgan in South Wales before moving to London where he worked in the newspaper publishing industry for ten years.
In the mid-90s he opted to spend a few years doing voluntary work in Zambia through VSO, running an educational book publishing development programme. After this, he set up his own marketing and publishing company in Lusaka, Zambia’s capital. He returned to the UK in 2009.
His creative writing journey began in earnest in 2014, as a therapeutic activity whilst recovering from cancer treatment. Thames Valley Tales and London Tales were collections of short stories written between 2014 and 2026. They are both audiobooks available on Amazon Audible, narrated and produced by actor/author, Richard James.
In addition to short stories, he researched and wrote a five-book history-meets-legend fiction series, A Light in the Dark Ages. This series connects the end of Roman Britain to the story of a possible historical King Arthur based on scant research material. There’s also a dystopian novel, Devil Gate Dawn, a book of poems and flash fiction, Perverse, and a dual timeline historical novel set at Hadrian’s Wall, Guardians at the Wall. In 2025 he published a novella, The Trials of Arthur Whitty, that took inspiration from a group he runs that supports old men in Windsor. Somewhere along the way, he and his daughter, Cathy, wrote a three-book children’s series, The Adventures of Charly Holmes.
You can connect with Tim on social media:
Twitter / X | Facebook | Bluesky | Threads
Amazon Author Page | Goodreads
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