One of the reasons why I love Neil Gaiman’s stories is that he can take the seemingly boring, mundane aspects of our everyday world and turn them on their heads. In Neverwhere, we follow Richard Mayhew who after helping a strange young woman found dying on the sidewalk, soon finds himself magically expelled from his very own existence in the city of London to the subterranean world of “London Below.” Accompanied by Door, who has the strange ability to open a doorway to any place imaginable, and “the Marquis de Carabas,” a mysterious man whose name is just as ridiculous as himself, Richard must traverse the many twisting tunnels and hidden areas of London Below to find a way back to the life that left him behind. Populated with the likes of supernatural assassins, rat talkers, vampire-like beings called “Velvets,” and a guardian angel, Neverwhere is an imaginative journey through the unseen and discarded places and stories of London.
— NicholasThe #1 New York Times bestselling author’s ultimate edition of his wildly successful first novel featuring his “preferred text”—and including the special “Neverwhere” tale “How the Marquis Got His Coat Back.”
Published in 1997, Neil Gaiman’s darkly hypnotic first novel, Neverwhere, heralded the arrival of this major talent and became a touchstone of urban fantasy. Over the years, a number of versions were produced both in the U.S. and the U.K. Now, this author’s preferred edition of his classic novel reconciles these versions and reinstates a number of scenes cut from the original published books.
Neverwhere is the story of Richard Mayhew, a young London businessman with a good heart and an ordinary life, which is changed forever when he is plunged through the cracks of reality into a world of shadows and darkness—the Neverwhere. If he is ever to return to the London Above, Richard must join the battle to save this strange underworld kingdom from the malevolence that means to destroy it.
Neil Gaiman is a #1 New York Times bestselling author of books for children and adults whose award-winning titles include Norse Mythology, American Gods, The Graveyard Book, Good Omens (with Terry Pratchett), Coraline, and The Sandman graphic novels. Neil Gaiman is a Goodwill Ambassador for UNHCR and Professor in the Arts at Bard College.
