The city of London is celebrated as one of the most ethnically diverse capitals in the world, and has been a magnet of migration since its origin. Looking to London steps into the maelstrom of current and recent wars and the resulting migration crisis, telling the stories of women refugees who have made it to London to seek safe haven among the city''s Kurdish, Somali, Tamil, Sudanese and Syrian communities, under the watchful eye of the security services.

Cynthia Cockburn brings her lively and lucid style to a world in which hatred is being countered by compassion, at a moment when the nationalist, anti-immigrant sentiment expressed in Brexit is being challenged by a warm-hearted ''refugees welcome'' movement bringing community activists into partnership with London borough councils for the reception and rehoming of victims of war.

This book is essential reading for all who want to think more deeply about the meaning of asylum.