Book ads pulled in London

After a grim convergence of fiction and fact, a publisher has removed advertisements for a novel about a fictional suicide bombing in London that hit the shelves on the same day that at least 52 people died in bomb attacks here.

“Incendiary,” by Chris Cleave, is written as a letter to Osama bin Laden by a woman whose son and husband die in the imagined attack on the Arsenal soccer team’s stadium in London.

It was published last Thursday, the day three bombs exploded on London’s underground trains and a fourth exploded on a bus.

A spokeswoman for the book’s publisher, Random House, said Monday it acted immediately to remove posters advertising the book from London’s subway system because it thought it would be insensitive to keep them there.

But many of the ads remain.

“Frankly, the London Underground have other more pressing priorities, so they will come down as soon as they can get them down,” said the spokeswoman for Random House, a unit of German media conglomerate Bertelsmann AG.

“In light of the terrible events of July 7, we reiterate the novel’s condemnation of terrorism and acts of violence and express our sympathy to all victims of these attacks,” she added.

Random House imprint Chatto & Windus set the publication date months ago for “Incendiary,” Cleave’s first novel.

The book is scheduled to be published in the United States later in the year, and the rights for it have been bought by a film production company.