84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

What a lovely book this is! For one thing, it is in one of my favorite styles—it’s told all in letters. It is, in fact, a series of letters from the 20-year correspondence (from 1949-1969) between outspoken New York screenwriter Helen Hanff and the denizens of a British bookshop, Marks and Company, “antiquarian booksellers”.

It’s the voices of and the relationships between the correspondents, of course, that make this book such a delight. It’s heart-warming to feel the gradual increase in warmth from the very British Frank Doel, it’s fun to hear the voices of his co-workers and their families and neighbors that also write to Helen Hanff. It's uplifting to read of the happy and grateful reception of the packages that Ms. Hanff sends to her bookstore friends in Britain.

I finished this book with a sigh and a smile. The saddest part of this little glimpse into some real relationships is that the correspondents are all gone now—the book was published in 1970, shortly after Frank Doel died. In fact, Ms. Hanff published the letters as a memorial to Frank Doel. She never did meet him in person, but the success of this book allowed her the finances to travel to England to meet his widow. By now, of course, all the characters we meet in these letters have passed away.

This little book was a great pleasure to read and I highly recommend it!

Bad language: nope
Sex: nope