Geographic: London

When she was nine years old, Melody Browne's house burned down, taking every toy, every photograph, every item of clothing and old Christmas cards with it. But not only did the fire destroy all her possessions, it took all her memories - Melody Browne can remember nothing before her ninth birthday.

John Addington is married to Catherine, but has spent his life trying to navigate his desires for men. Now there is Frank, the working-class printer he meets at the Serpentine swimming lake. Henry Ellis is married to Edith, but she has fallen in love with Angelica, who wants Edith all for herself...

A walk along any London street takes you past a wealth of seemingly ordinary buildings: an Edwardian church, modernist postwar council housing, stuccoed Italianate terraces, a Bauhaus-inspired library. But these buildings are not just functional. They are evidence of London's rich and diverse his...