Introducing Tales of the Suburbs: LGBTQ+ Lives Behind Net Curtains, publishing by Faber on March 12 2026.
Throughout LGBTQ+ history, suburbia has been seen as somewhere to escape from: a place where heterosexuality rules; where difference will not be tolerated; where you’ll never find a soulmate. But for many, those streets of twitching curtains and pebble-dashed semis were – or still are – a place to call home.
From Addlestone to Wilmslow, Tales of the Suburbs explores the relatively untold twentieth century tale of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer people in suburbia. Through remarkable archive material and original interviews, social historian John Grindrod reveals stories that are messy and moving, dark and funny, uplifting and extraordinary. Together, they reclaim suburbia as a space for all – or those that want it – where counter-cultural expression thrives despite the Neighbourhood Watch, and queer love and friendship bloom against the odds.
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Published March 12 2026.
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Barratt homes. Millennium monuments. Riverside flats. Wind farms. Spectacular skyscrapers. City centre apartments. Out of town malls.
Perhaps more so than any other cultural artefacts, the buildings designed in our lifetimes encapsulate how we as a culture imagined we one day might live. Whether modest or monumental, they offer a living history of Britain, a reminder of the forces that have shaped our modern landscape.
Iconicon is a journey around the Britain we have created since 1980: the horrors and delights, the triumphs and failures. From space-age tower blocks to suburban business parks, and from postmodernist exuberance to Passivhaus eco efficiency, this is an architectural grand tour and, I hope, a witty and engaging piece of social history.
SHORTLISTED FOR THE ARCHITECTURE BOOK AWARDS 2023.
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‘A love letter to contemporary buildings and a fantastic account of recent British history, rich in humour.’
NINA STIBBE
‘A punchy book takes a swing at Britain’s tacky shopping malls, bland housing estates and starchitect ego trips.’
THE TIMES BOOK OF THE WEEK
‘Since Ian Nairn began his increasingly emotional journeys through British towns in the 1950s, various authors and broadcasters have followed hopefully in his footsteps . . . but there’s one thing they tend not to do: quiz the actual people involved in making our towns and cities. This is where Grindrod’s chatty learning-worn-lightly style scores. He seeks them out, interviews them, enjoys their company, structures his book round them.’
HUGH PEARMAN, GUARDIAN
‘Brilliant, encyclopaedic, funny and often cutting.’
DANNY DORLING
‘Few writers on architecture can do what Grindrod does: he astutely observes the landscapes we all live in, weaves them into his own life, researches them with the doggedness of a true geek, talks to those that know them better than anyone – the ones who live in those landscapes – and recounts their stories with wit, passion and a shot of anger, directed with perfect aim at those in power.’
TOM DYCKHOFF
‘John Grindrod's follow-up to Concretopia is, if anything, even better.’
OWEN HATHERLEY
‘This is a deeply humane book that does much to explain the world in which we live.’
JOHN BOUGHTON, author of MUNICIPAL DREAMS
‘Grindrod is an architectural Daniel Defoe on a tour of our island, excavating our recent past, and our possible futures.’
LEO HOLLIS, author of CITIES ARE GOOD FOR YOU
Tower Blocks. Flyovers. Streets in the Sky.
Once, this was the future.
From 1945 to 1979, this is the story of how blitzed, slum-ridden and crumbling ‘austerity Britain’ became, in a few short years, a space-age world of concrete, steel and glass.
Among other things Concretopia covers prefabs, the Festival of Britain, the blitz rebuilding of Coventry and Plymouth, the new towns of Cwmbran, Harlow, Cumbernauld and Milton Keynes, the rise of brutalism, Park Hill in Sheffield, high rise flats in the Gorbals and Newcastle, Arndale centres, the Bull Ring in Birmingham, Centre Point and Space House by Richard Seifert, Span and New Ash Green, the Poulson and T Dan Smith scandal, Ronan Point, the Barbican and the National Theatre.
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‘Wonderful . . . A new way of looking at modern Britain.’
INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY
’The best history of the intersection of post-war architecture and politics (often with a small “p”) that you could hope for.’
OWEN HATHERLEY
‘Charming . . . Part-travelogue, part-history, Grindrod's account walks us through in touchingly precise detail the decisions that led to such buildings as the BT Tower, the Barbican, Coventry Cathedral and the blocks of New Ash Green.’
ALAIN DE BOTTON, THE TIMES
‘Fascinating throughout . . . a brilliant book.’
JAMES HAMILTON-PATERSON, author of EMPIRE OF THE CLOUDS
‘Timely and pertinent . . . Grindrod is inventive with words and frequently alights on delightful and perceptive images.’
SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
‘Never has a trip from Croydon and back again been so fascinating … a total treat.’
CATHERINE CROFT, Director, Twentieth Century Society
‘With a cast of often unsung heroes – and one or two villains – Concretopia is a lively, surprising account of how Britain came to look the way it does.’
Will Wiles, author of CARE OF WOODEN FLOORS
‘It's like eavesdropping into a conversation between John Betjeman, J.G. Ballard and Jonathan Meades.’
LEO HOLLIS, author of CITIES ARE GOOD FOR YOU
Shortlisted for the Wainwright Prize.
Discover the strange hidden history of our green belts, from nuclear bunkers to buried landfill sites. And the story of my family too, growing up in a working class South London housing estate on the edge of the green belt with a funny car mechanic dad and a clever disabled mum. Along the way meet the planners, protestors, foresters and residents whose passions for and against the green belt tell a fascinating tale of Britain today.
With illustrations by Eleanor Crow.
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‘Evocative and intelligent.’
PD SMITH, GUARDIAN
‘Illuminating and enjoyable . . . what truly lifts it is the personal element, above all Grindrod's portrayal of family life.’
DAVID KYNASTON, SPECTATOR
‘Grindrod writes beautifully about nature . . . a lucid, evocative book, suffused with sadness and anger.’
LYNSEY HANLEY, FINANCIAL TIMES
‘Well-researched and engaging.’
ALEXANDER LARMAN, OBSERVER
‘A coherent, deeply researched study.’
GILLIAN TINDALL, TLS
‘Fascinating.’
ROBERT MACFARLANE
‘Outskirts is dotted with funny anecdotes and familiar cultural references from a 1970s childhood. Grindrod segues elegantly between memoir and fascinating social history.’
BBC COUNTRYFILE
A passionate and personal book about the writer's own love for a controversial architectural style, illustrated by The Brutal Artist.
CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT. IF IT EVER COMES BACK INTO PRINT, HERE’S WHERE YOU COULD BUY THE BOOK:
‘An enjoyable read; lively and entertaining prose, which can make a serious point in a bright way.'
BUILDING ENGINEER