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84, Charing Cross Road

Helene Hanff

Start date: November 1, 2020

Finish date: November 30, 2020

Discussion: Short Story/Novella Collection

Why we're reading this: November 2020 - Short Story/Novella Read
[close] November 2020 - Short Story/Novella Read

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Short Story/Novella Collection

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What Members Thought

May 07, 2019 Heather L rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction, 2020, 2019

What a delightful read! This book has been on my TBB list for several years, but could never find a copy locally. A local used book store is in the process of moving and holding clearance sales every few weeks. While browsing one such table, I spied a box marked “books about books” and tucked inside were two copies of this book! So glad I was finally able to lay hands on a copy. Definitely a keeper!

Nov 13, 2020:
Enjoyed this second reading as much as the first. Highly recommend.

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Jul 15, 2013 Michele rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: reread-regularly, writing-and-language, bio_autiobio

Lovely epistolary non-fiction made up of correspondence between a young woman writer in 1940s New York City and a London bookseller whom she commissions to find all sorts of obscure and not-so-obscure titles. The letters are chatty, entertaining, and of course VERY book-centric; the contrast between the free-and-easy Helene and the more proper British is delightful. Since it's late 1940s, there are also snippets of British post-war rationing and other things. A delight all around. (Sadly, I hear ...more

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Jan 04, 2015 Sandy rated it it was amazing

A very short epistolary book. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book and was sorry to see it end. It was very interesting to read about the relationship that grew between Helene and Frank over the years even though they never met. Was surprised that rationing of food was still occurring in London in the late 40s and early 50s.

Spoiler alert, I was so hoping that Helene would make it to London to visit the bookstore. Got a little choked up at the end. Now I want to go visit 84 Charing Cross Road.

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Aug 17, 2020 Maggie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: humour, epistolary, non-fiction, usa

On October 5, 1949, Helen Hanff in New York responds to an ad by Marks & Co. Booksellers, an antiquarian bookshop in London, requesting some books. Thus begins a series of letters over 20 years. Most of the correspondence is between Helene and an employee named Frank Doel, but some of the letters are written by other bookstore employees, and by Doel's wife Nora and neighbour Mary Boulton.

The letters go far beyond the business transactions of a bookstore and a book-buyer. Helene starts off buyin On October 5, 1949, Helen Hanff in New York responds to an ad by Marks & Co. Booksellers, an antiquarian bookshop in London, requesting some books. Thus begins a series of letters over 20 years. Most of the correspondence is between Helene and an employee named Frank Doel, but some of the letters are written by other bookstore employees, and by Doel's wife Nora and neighbour Mary Boulton.

The letters go far beyond the business transactions of a bookstore and a book-buyer. Helene starts off buying books, but she quickly starts enquiring about the lives of Frank and the other people in the bookstore. When she begins sending Christmas and Easter gifts of eggs and meat to the bookstore, as such items were being rationed in the UK at that time, the other employees in the bookstore start sending her letters of gratitude, and their interest in each other's lives become intimate.

It was extremely amusing to read the letters between Helene, with her stereotypically American openness, frankness and irreverence, and Frank, who is stereotypically British, being polite, proper and kind. Initially it feels like she's pushing her friendship on him – she starts off revealing details of her life first, forcing him to reveal his name, and sending food parcels. She pushes him to move on from calling her "Madam" to "Miss Hanff" ("I hope 'madam' doesn't mean over there what it does here.") to "Helene" ("MISS Hanff to you. (I'm helene only to my FRIENDS)"). Frank, initially encumbered by writing letters that are proper enough for the official files, eventually warms up to her, though he never loses his politeness, even when Helene teases him, complaining about his inefficiency (making it clear that she is impatient) and complaining about certain books he sends (while also praising extravagantly other books).

Helene is a book-lover who loves not just the content of books but the presentation of them. She doesn’t like the cardboardy covers found in American bookstores, she wants the linen and vellum and cream thick paper and gold-lined pages that she could only find from Marks & Co. She particularly likes secondhand books that fall apart at a spot where the previous owner had paid special attention to, and finding markings of special passages. Her love for books is innocent and genuine, and finds its counterpart in Frank, who is knowledgeable without being boastful, and does his best providing her with books that he sources from old English country houses and private libraries.

There are long gaps between some of the letters, up to two years. It is clear that many of the letters were not included, though it's not clear whether it's because the letters were lost or whether Helene just decided not to publish them. I suppose Helene had good reasons for not wanting to include them, but it does make you wish for more.

A common thread, especially in the second half of the book, is when Helen will finally go to England. She never saves up enough money for it, and in 1968, Frank passes on from a ruptured appendix. It's bittersweet. But there is a hint, too, that the penpal relationship gave them all the intimacy and love they could desire, and a face-to-face meeting might have altered this.

I loved this. It is an absolutely charming book of genuine kindness and love created people on two continents who never meet each other and are connected only by their common love for books.

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Edit: One day after I posted this review, I was informed by a Goodreads friend that Helene did visit England from opportunities created by the publication of 84, and wrote a diary that was published into a book. Head this way for The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street. My review is here. ...more

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