71 pages 2 hours read

Neil Gaiman

Neverwhere (London Below, #1)

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2003

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.

Prologue-Chapter 4Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prologue Summary

The prologue opens with Richard Mayhew’s going away party. He’s leaving Scotland and heading to London. His friends pool their money to gift him an umbrella with a map of the London Underground on it. He takes a break from the party and sits out on the street, but thanks to his rumpled appearance, a passerby thinks he is homeless.

The passerby—an elderly woman who tells him she was once a dancer and was, at one time, homeless herself—offers to read his fortune. After examining his palm, she tells him he has a long way to go, and then she says, “It starts with doors” (14). She leaves, but he pursues her and gives her the umbrella with the map on it.

Richard’s friends summon him back to the pub, and he drinks with them for the rest of the night. The next day he goes to London on the train.

Chapter 1 Summary

An unnamed woman is four days into running for her life. She is “more tired than a body could stand” (16) and she finds what she hopes is a safe place to sleep.

Meanwhile, two men, Mr. Croup and Mr. Vandemar, are discussing Mr. Ross. They have hired to act as their metaphorical canary, in the same way a canary was traditionally sent into a mine shaft ahead of workers to determine if dangerous gases had leeched into the air below ground.

Related Titles

By Neil Gaiman

Study Guide
Guide cover image

American Gods

Neil Gaiman

Study Guide
Guide cover image

Anansi Boys

Neil Gaiman

Teaching Guide + Study Guide
Guide cover image

Coraline

Neil Gaiman, Dave McKean

Plot Summary
Guide cover placeholder

Fight of the Century: Writers Reflect on 100 Years of Landmark ACLU Cases

Michael Chabon, ed., Ayelet Waldman, ed., Adrian Nicole LeBlanc, Meg Wolitzer, Louise Erdrich, Héctor Tobar, Neil Gaiman, Jacqueline Woodson, Rabih Alameddine, Ayelet Waldman, Brenda J. Child, Michael Chabon, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Salman Rushdie, Jesmyn Ward, Aleksandar Hemon, George Saunders, Scott Turow, Timothy Egan, Steven Okazaki, Sergio de la Pava, Andrew Sean Greer, Geraldine Brooks, Anthony Doerr, Brit Bennett, Yaa Gyasi, Moriel Rothman-Zecher, William Finnegan, Marlon James, Morgan Parker, Jennifer Egan, David Cole, Lauren Groff, Ann Patchett, David Handler, C.J. Anders, Dave Eggers, Jonathan Lethem, Michael Cunningham, Elizabeth Strout, Li Yiyun

Study Guide
Guide cover image

Fortunately, the Milk

Neil Gaiman, Skottie Young

Teaching Guide + Study Guide
Guide cover image

Good Omens

Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, Mark Heap, Peter Serafinowicz, Dirk Maggs

Study Guide
Guide cover image

How to Talk to Girls at Parties

Neil Gaiman, Fábio Moon, Gabriel Bá

Teaching Guide + Study Guide
Guide cover image

Norse Mythology

Neil Gaiman

Study Guide
Guide cover image

October in the Chair

Neil Gaiman

Study Guide
Guide cover image

Odd and the Frost Giants

Neil Gaiman, Mark Buckingham

Teaching Guide + Study Guide
Guide cover image

Stardust

Neil Gaiman

Teaching Guide + Study Guide
Guide cover image

The Graveyard Book

Dave McKean, Neil Gaiman

Plot Summary
Guide cover placeholder

The King of Elfland's Daughter

Lord Dunsany, Neil Gaiman

Study Guide
Guide cover image

The Ocean at the End of the Lane

Neil Gaiman

Study Guide
Guide cover image

The Sandman Omnibus Vol. 1

Neil Gaiman

Study Guide
Guide cover image

The Sleeper and the Spindle

Neil Gaiman, Chris Riddell