30
THE ALLEYNIAN 710
WATERY
STORIES
BENEATH
OUR
FEET
‘Maybe it’s because I’m a Londoner, that I love London so.’ Hubert Gregg’s famous words resound with me as I sit, biting cold twined around my bones like a constrictor, having just spent the afternoon in a rowing boat as the river’s dark green surface bobs and bucks, tiny waves giving it an appearance akin to the hide of some strange crocodile. But something has changed. I have recently been drawn into the tidal whirlpool of Tom Chivers’ latest book, London Clay . Like the capricious current of the Thames, or one of London’s many other ‘hidden rivers’, Chivers’ autobiographical work of literary genius sweeps the reader on a watery journey, changing direction in the blink of an eye, pulling one down through time itself. Any book can tell you about London’s cultural glories – Buckingham Palace, the Tate, the Natural History Museum – but London Clay is a journey through the city like no other. Where many works take a two- or even three-dimensional approach to the city you and I call home, London Clay is more like a sphere, giving a multitude of perspectives that form an all-encapsulating net. To put it differently, another text might take you on a walk through some of the well-known
Alexander Poli (Year 11) enjoys London Clay , the first work of non-fiction by Tom Chivers OA
parts of inner London, hopefully revealing some obscure exposition or rarely experienced ‘hidden gem’, while London Clay is somewhat like astral projection. For each chapter, there are multiple subchapters, and through these, Chivers portrays the effect of London’s subterranean rivers on the area – underground river shaping community and community shaping river – not only through the myopic lens of the present, but also through the elaborate tapestry of the past. The effect of this is to give the reader not only knowledge of the areas and rivers in question but also understanding – true understanding that transcends time and the individual.
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