Customer Reviews

84, Charing Cross Road.

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In less than one hundred pages, Helene Hanff has given her readers a rare and special gift. Here in this delightful little book are the notes she exchanged with the employees of Marks & Co., a used-book store in England. Being fond of the old-fashioned yet still highly personal act of letter writing, and being equally fond of old books and used-book stores, Hanff seemed to have compiled these letters just for me. I doubt there is anyone who can read this book without experiencing a wide range of emotions complete with laughter and tears.

A lifelong letter writer, Helene Hanff studied playwriting at the Theatre Guild. She has written scripts for "The Hallmark Hall of Fame" and for "Ellery Queen." Her other writings include several children's books as well as articles for Harpers and New Yorker magazines.

Living and writing in New York City, Hanff finds herself unsuccessful in finding certain rare or out-of-print editions of books.

"Gentlemen:
Your ad in the Saturday Review of Literature says that you specialize in out-of-print books. The phrase 'antiquarian booksellers' scares me somewhat, as I equate 'antique' with expensive. I am a poor writer with an antiquarian taste in books and all the things I want are impossible to get over here except in very expensive rare editions, or in Barnes & Noble's grimy, marked-up schoolboy copies."

So begins the opening letter dated October 5, 1949, and addressed to Marks & Co. at 84, Charing Cross Road in London. What follows on the pages of this book are the letters Hanff wrote to Marks & Co., and specifically to Frank P. Dole. Also included are the responses to her requests, mostly from Frank P. Dole. Through their twenty-year relationship, the two strangers become in some ways like family. Frank introduces his family to Helene in letters. She corresponds with the family as if they are her own. Knowing that in a time of rationing, certain items are not readily available to the residents of London, she takes great care to ship Christmas and Easter gifts to the store with plenty of eggs and meat for everyone there.

The final entry, dated 1969, brings the relationship between the bookstore, Frank Dole and Hanff full circle. The twenty years between the first and last notes are fondly recalled on the pages of this book.

These short notes, her requests for specific books, the monetary transactions that took place, and the solid relationships that developed allow the present day reader to glimpse a bit of the nostalgic... a gentler time when costs were lower, trust was higher, and people were more willing to be compassionate to complete strangers.

This is a truly delightful little book that has captured my heart. And, by the way, the fact that I discovered it while browsing through my own favorite little used-book store lends a special sort of appeal to it. I treasure the gifts within these pages--the gifts of self, of the written word, and the appreciation for the simpler things in life.

by Lee Ambrose
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women

After meaning to read this classic for ages, yesterday I came across the cassette version at the library. Put it on this afternoon and never turned it off. Charing Cross is a delightful memoir, and this reading of it is all the more so as each correspondent's letters are read by a different narrator, all of them wonderful. The quintessential postwar (WW II) New Yorker meets the quintessential Londoner in this series of letters brimming with warmth, wit, and humor. Surprisingly, Helene Hanff did not develop her passion for good literature through conventional educational experience, but via an encounter with A. Quiller-Couch in a library. She would have made a fantastic English lit professor. (The reader of her letters reminds me of Debra Winger in Shadowlands). Frank Doel, his family and co-workers bring the 50's and 60's with all England's deprivation alive, and respond to Helene's heartfelt American generosity in kind. Wish I had read this gem long ago; just glad I've done so at last. Will now begin a search for my own print copy, hopefully, in an "antique" edition.

This is the story of a young woman full of creativity and potential, finding her way in the New York entertainment industry. It is also the story of Londoners after the war. Then there is the story of a woman who is not content to call herself educated just because she has attended school; she is on a quest for knowledge and fine writing. But those are the things which I have read into the book, and there is so much more there. Essentially, it is a collection of letters between two like-minded people who love books. Helene Hanff's humor leaps out at you and the personal and sweet tone of these missives makes you feel you have known the writers.

84, Charing Cross Road was shipped quickly; provider had described the condition of the book accurately, and I would purchase from them again. The book is wonderful! But I already knew that or I wouldn't have bought it. . . . .

Like many people, I saw a movie first. Naturally, due to media constraints, you expect certain amount of the book to be homogenized. Therefore, I wanted to read what was missing. To my amazement very little was missing or modified. I do not normally read this sort of book. Therefore, I was surprised at finding myself wanting more when it finished.

In addition, until I read the book I did not realize that Charing Cross Road was a real place. The whole book is based on a collection of correspondence between Helene Hanff, an avid book reader, and Frank Doel an agent for British bookseller.

My wife has taken this one-step further and is collecting all the books that were mentioned in the correspondence. Some of these books appear to have been reprinted due to this publication.

If you can find it there is a book called "The Library of Helene Hanff."
I wonder what became of all the other people described in the correspondents after the book.

84 Charing Cross Road

The book was delightful. The copy was old which gave me the feeling that I was reading the book when it was written. I'll pass it on to another book-lover friend.