Liverpool is a city with a pulse you can feel, not just on its streets but captured in books too. Authors have walked these docks, heard the music, and felt the city’s unique spirit. Some stories dive deep into its history, others find magic or drama around familiar corners.
If you want to explore Liverpool through fiction, here are some books that really bring the place to life.
Beryl Bainbridge takes us to post-war Liverpool. Stella, barely sixteen, joins a repertory theatre company. She thinks she’ll find glamour and a place to belong backstage at the Liverpool Playhouse.
Instead, she finds a world of eccentric actors, hidden affairs, and simmering resentments. The story peels back the layers of the characters’ lives, and you discover painful secrets and connections that are truly unsettling.
It captures the damp, make-do atmosphere of the time perfectly.
David Peace offers an intense look at Bill Shankly, the famous Liverpool FC manager. This book recreates Shankly’s monumental effort to rebuild the club.
Peace focuses on the relentless dedication, the repetition of training, the famous Boot Room chats, and Shankly’s almost obsessive drive. You feel his deep connection with the fans and understand how his vision transformed not just a football team but the city’s morale.
Set during the Blitz in Liverpool, Beryl Bainbridge’s The Dressmaker centers on Rita, a quiet young woman who lives with her two very different aunts. Nellie is strict and rules the house; Marge is more lenient.
When Rita meets an American soldier and falls for him, the cramped house fills with tension. The aunts, constrained by their routines and secrets, react poorly. Their actions spiral into serious trouble against the backdrop of wartime uncertainty.
Silas Hocking wrote this Victorian bestseller about Liverpool’s street children. Benny and his younger sister Nell face incredible hardship in the city during the 19th century. Benny is fiercely protective and works any job he can find.
Nell is frail, and their poverty constantly threatens her health. Their story highlights the grim realities of life for the poor, but it also shows moments of kindness and the strong will to survive.
Stephen Baxter drops us into Liverpool during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Laura Mann is a teenager new to the city, just as the world holds its breath. Things get wild when she somehow gets hold of a key related to an atomic weapon.
Suddenly, time travelers are after her, and Liverpool becomes the stage for a strange, high-stakes game. The story mixes the real tension of the era with science fiction elements and the energy of the Merseybeat music scene.
John Brophy’s Waterfront immerses you in the world of Liverpool’s docks. The story follows Joe, a dockworker, and the people whose lives revolve around the ships and the water.
Brophy paints a detailed picture of their daily grind, the camaraderie between workers, the family struggles, and the harsh economic realities they faced. You get a real sense of the city’s working-class heart and the importance of the port.
James Hanley’s Boy is a tough, unforgettable read. Arthur Fearon is thirteen and desperate to escape his grim life and troubled family in Liverpool. He lies about his age and signs onto a ship, hoping for adventure. What he finds at sea is far from his dreams.
He encounters shocking cruelty and the brutal life of a merchant seaman. It’s a stark look at exploitation and the loss of innocence.
Rosie Harris tells the story of Patsy, a young girl in 1920s Liverpool. Life gets harder after her father dies and her mother remarries a cruel man. Patsy lives in Paradise Place, part of the city’s working-class neighborhoods.
She holds onto dreams of a better future despite her difficult home life. Her journey shows resilience as she looks for kindness and strength while navigating poverty and family troubles.
Clive Barker’s fantasy epic Weaveworld starts in Liverpool. An ordinary man named Cal Mooney discovers a secret world hidden within an old carpet. This isn’t just any carpet; it contains the Fugue, a magical land inhabited by beings called the Seerkind.
Cal becomes their unlikely protector when dark forces try to capture or destroy the Weaveworld. Barker blends the mundane streets of Liverpool with incredible, sometimes terrifying, magic.
Richie McMullen’s memoir Enchanted Boy shares vivid memories of growing up gay in working-class Liverpool during the 1940s and 50s. He writes honestly about his family life, the challenges of understanding his identity, and the societal pressures of the time.
It’s a personal story that captures the atmosphere of post-war Liverpool, the community spirit, and the difficulties faced by someone different in that era.
Thomas Armstrong’s historical novel King Cotton connects Liverpool and Manchester during the 19th-century cotton boom and the American Civil War’s impact.
The story follows two families, one wealthy ship-owning family in Liverpool and one working-class family involved in the Lancashire mills. Their lives intersect through business, ambition, and conflict.
You see the bustling Liverpool docks contrasted with the mill towns and understand the huge changes the cotton trade brought to the region.