I also relate to her appreciation of “beautiful” books – from how it was bound to the actual words inside. From loving and reading only nonfiction (“ I never get interested in things that didn’t happen to people who never lived.”/ “ I’m a great lover of i-was-there books.”) to giving fiction a chance because of the very books that Frank recommended. I loved reading Helene’s witty musings and her admiration for them. Of course I’ve read a lot of booklovers in stories but it is such a delight to be able to read her ponderings and how she holds books in high regard in her life. Helene Hanff was a lover of literature and a lover of books – and in her letters, it shows. This book also presented an intimate look into the mind of a true blue bibliophile. It was also a journey to read how the staff of Marks & Co., especially Frank, opened up to her and Helene becoming their most beloved patron despite never meeting.Īll that gleaming leather and gold stamping and beautiful type belongs in the pine-panelled library of an English country home it wants to be read by the fire in a gentleman’s leather easy chair-not on a secondhand studio couch in a one-room hovel in a broken-down brownstone front. And, oh, what a wonderful thing to have someone painstakingly find rare books for you. It was interesting to read how different the writing styles are between the two: Helene’s breezy American English versus Frank’s more “formal” standard English. This was set in the 50s and letter-writing then is the only way you can communicate across the globe – so you can only imagine how it was back then.

It is such a fun and heartwarming experience reading the correspondence between Helene Hanff and Frank Doel that spanned 20 years. Years passed and an unlikely friendship developed. If you happen to pass by 84 Charing Cross Road, kiss it for me? I owe it so much.Ĩ4, Charing Cross Road chronicles a special epistolary relationship between a writer in New York and a used-book dealer in London – whose shop is located in (as you guessed it) 84, Charing Cross Road.

Helene hanff