Fictional colleges are perennially popular in modern novels, allowing the author much greater licence when describing the more intimate activities of a Cambridge college and a way of placing events that might not be permitted by actual Cambridge geography.
Below is a list of some of the fictional colleges of the University of Cambridge.
- All Saints College - In The Green Man by Kingsley Amis; mentioned briefly in Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams and in Dreaming of the Bones by Deborah Crombie
- Brakespeare College - Manalive by G. K. Chesterton
- Fisher College - The Cambridge Murders by Dilwyn Rees, situated between real-life St John's College and Trinity College.
- Haworth College - Dr Rose Fenemore in Stormy Petrel by Mary Stewart is described as the College's English tutor, though most of the novel is set on the Isle of Mull.
- Lancaster College - various books by Simon Raven. Bears more than a passing resemblance to King's College, founded by Henry VI of the House of Lancaster.
- Lauds College - various books by Susan Howatch. Fictionally contains Cambridge Cathedral, so is similar to Christ Church, Oxford. Charles Ashworth was a fellow of the College and many other characters studied there. Named after William Laud, controversial 17th century Archbishop of Canterbury
- Pelby College - spoof college that Cambridge students use as an "unmistakable landmark" when giving directions to tourists. By convention it is located somewhere between Magdalene and St John's.
- Porterhouse College - Porterhouse Blue and Grantchester Grind by Tom Sharpe. The name suggests Peterhouse, though it is also a pun on college porters and porterhouse steaks. It is also reputedly based loosely on Pembroke, Sharpe's alma mater or Corpus Christi which is next door and its location is somewhere near Peterhouse and Pembroke.
- St Agatha's College - The Wyndham Case (1993), A Piece of Justice (1995), Debts of Dishonour (2006) and The Bad Quarto (2007) by Jill Paton Walsh, located between Castle Mound and Chesterton Lane.
- St Alupent's College - in the novels of Mary Selby/Joanna Bell. The College is the setting of her book "Gargoyles and Port,' in which its very existence comes under threat from the neighbouring, rival College, largely thanks to an ancient contract signed by the founder, St Alupent himself. The author studied at Gonville and Caius College.
- St Angelicus College - The Gate of Angels (1990) by Penelope Fitzgerald. Situated not far from Christ's Pieces.
- St Barnabas' College - Tomorrow's Ghost (1979) by Anthony Price.
- St Bartholemew's College - Nights in White Satin (1999) by Michelle Spring. Located near the police station and New Square, with murders investigated by Laura Principal of Newnham College.
- St Bernard's College - Darkness at Pemberley by T. H. White. Loosely disguised version of Queens' College.
- St Botolph's College - Example college in Cambridge University Computing Service documentation.
- St Bride's College - the setting for much of Charlie Cochrane's Cambridge Fellows Mysteries.
- St Cedd's College - Various works by Douglas Adams. Based on St. John's College, the alma mater of Douglas Adams.
- St Dunstan's College, Cambridge - College of Professor Austin Herring, who appears in Chris Addison's The Ape That Got Lucky and Civilisation
- St Ignatius' College - the university that Albert Campion went to, according to the novels of Margery Allingham; see his minibiography in Sweet Danger.
- St Margaret's College - The Cambridge Theorem by Tony Cape
- St Martha's College - Matricide at St. Martha's by Ruth Dudley Edwards.
- St Martin's College - War Game by Anthony Price
- St Mary's College - The Hills of Varna by Geoffrey Trease.
- St Matthew's College - The Green Man by Kingsley Amis, next door to St Catharine's College. Also in various works by Stephen Fry - in which it is a loosely disguised version of Queens' College, revealed by names of bridges and courts.
- St Paul's College - located on St Andrew's Street, between Christ's and Emmanuel, in The Pink and the Grey by Anthony Camber.
- St Radegund's College - an all-female college in Hearts and Mind by Rosy Thornton.
- St Stephen's College - For the Sake of Elena by Elizabeth George, located between Trinity College and Trinity Hall, modelled on the latter. In the BBC adaptation of the Inspector Lynley Mysteries, St John's College was used as the setting.
- St Swithin's College - In James Hilton's Random Harvest, the college attended by Charles Ranier, the main character, and a decade later by Harrison, the narrator. Founded in the latter 16th century.
- Tudor College - the home of the main characters in The Night Climbers by Ivo Stourton.
- Weirdsister College - Magical college, setting of a sequel to The Worst Witch.
- Wetmarsh College - subject of an operetta by Mark Wainwright and Roland Anderson entitled Wetmarsh College, or, Dr Middlebottom, first staged at the ADC Theatre, Cambridge, in 2005 (Wetmarsh is never explicitly said to be in Cambridge, but Wainwright's libretto and the place of its composition and first performance make it fairly clear).
- an unnamed college in C. P. Snow's novel The Masters and other novels in the Strangers and Brothers series. Snow disparaged what he called the 'Christminster' convention of the naming of fictitious colleges.
- An unnamed college in the BBC Radio 4 comedy series High Table, Lower Orders.
- Prussian-Nationalist College - Briefly mentioned in the book "Prussian Education In Our Time" by Bismarck.
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—Lawrence Kutner (20th century)
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—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
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“the Cambridge ladies who live in furnished souls
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—E.E. (Edward Estlin)
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