I finally finished reading this very engrossing book, which I bought at a charity shop last year in Dymchurch, Kent.
It’s the experiences of a group of friends led by Iain Sinclair on walks around London, roughly following the M25 motorway, it is set during turn of the century in 1999, a time which I remember well as I was going through a major upheaval in my life.
The theme of these walks was about mental health with a focus on mental institutions both current and former that they passed on the way. They passed many locations which were crime scenes and where famous people once resided. I found the stories very interesting even though some were dark. What I liked most was the accounts of every day sights like small roadside cafes, retail parks, business parks etc the things that are overlooked when we ramble. That, plus the memories of early years the Blair government struck a chord on me.
London Orbital is well worth reading if you are into the local history of outer London from the last days of the twentieth century.
