Just finished The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix. Another attempt at bring the Faerie Realm into more-or-less modern UK. Doesn’t work much. Sad. Potentially great idea. Attracted by the title. Don’t bother. Now reading Gobbelino London & a Scourge of Pleasantries. Mad, slightly magic, fluffy nonsense by same author as Cosy Dragon Mysteries. Wonderfully unworthy and most enjoyable!
Your formative years in the city of Dreaming Spires sound well interesting. Sad the boatyards have been yuppied. Great places. Boats themselves are wonderful but also full of intriguing bits of kit. Don’t they have those wonderful “slipper-hull” launches on that part of the river? SO elegant.