Hi everyone! Nicky again, with one of my reviews about books that feature mail!
Last time I wrote about books for the blog, I was enthusing over Dorothy L. Sayers’ The Documents in the Case, a mystery novel which relies almost totally on written evidence. This time, I’m talking about something completely different: 84 Charing Cross Road, by Helene Hanff.
84 Charing Cross Road is actually non-fiction: Helene Hanff was a writer and screenwriter from New York, who entered into a 20-year correspondence with a bookshop on Charing Cross Road, in London. She corresponded at first with a man named Frank Doel, but her funny letters and generous presents (such as food parcels containing food British people couldn’t obtain at the time due to rationing) quickly endeared her to the entire staff and to their families.
After Frank Doel’s death, she decided to publish some of their correspondence, and this was published as the book 84 Charing Cross Road — which is the book Helene (you can’t call her by her surname after reading this book) is best remembered for!
Reading the collection, I couldn’t help but quote bits aloud to my wife, almost every other page! Helene’s letters are warm and witty, and while Frank’s replies are rather more reserved, you can see an odd sort of friendship developing between them. Here’s one of the letters where she teases him for taking a while to find her a book:
“Dear Speed—You dizzy me, rushing Leigh Hunt and the Vulgate over here whizbang like that. You probably don’t realize it, but it’s hardly more than two years since I ordered them. You keep going at this rate you’re gonna give yourself a heart attack.”
It sounds like the plot of a romance, but Frank Doel was happily married, and… well, I’ll warn you all ahead of time: he and Helene never met. Throughout the letters she refers again and again to a visit that she never manages — at least not until after his sudden death and the closure of the shop where he worked.
My copy (from Sphere, published in 2010) does include The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street, a book which collects Helene’s journal entries from her trip to London. It’s a satisfying follow-up if you’ve got attached to everyone via their correspondence in 84 Charing Cross Road, because you get to hear a little more from Nora (Frank’s wife), and Helene’s joy at finally reaching London is palpable.
I found it a really enjoyable read — though I almost found it difficult to believe that these people really existed and really sent these letters! There’s something incredibly sweet about their 20-year correspondence, short as it seems from this rather selective collection. It’s quite easy to dip in and out of, too, if you’re looking for a short/easy read. I loved it, and definitely recommend it!
I’m still taking suggestions for books about mail and mail-related topics, so do let me know any new ones you’ve thought of! I love non-fiction as well as fiction, and I’m totally open in terms of genre. The next post will probably be about Terry Pratchett’s Going Postal… but I’m notoriously capricious about reading, so I’m making no promises!
54 comments so far
This is one of my favorite books. I love seeing the story develop through their correspondence.
Huh, interesting, I've always been sort of morbidly curious about reading letters exchanged by other people than myself, so this might just be a perfect book for me.
It's such a great read, I really loved it. And I found it so sad that those two never met. I think there was even a film made out of it ?
The book was made into a film in 1987, with Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins in the lead roles.
I'd call Hanff naughty but nice!
What a FUNtastic thread!
I loved 84, Charing Cross Road and Duchess of Bloomsbury St! Right now I'm reading Dear Elizabeth, which is a Sarah Ruhl play about the long friendship through correspondence between the poets Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell.
Thank you for the blog. I enjoyed reading your comments.
I really enjoyed the film too. Anthony Hopkins was perfect as the reserved, polite Brit addressing his wife as "Mrs. Doel" and Anne Bancroft basically played Anne Bancroft, (meant as a compliment.) I sometimes do routines from the fim with my wife after dinner saying, "That was a delicious dinner, Mrs. O". She'll give me a funny look and say, thank you or just nod and smile.
One of my all time favorites!😷
Thank you for sharing the good book lovers news. I'm going to the bookstore today to pick up my copy. I'm curios now.
I have seen the movie and really loved it. It was perfectly cast. Now I am truly interested in reading the book and being charmed again.
Thank you for the reminder about this book. I’ve read it a few times over the years, enjoying each time. Maybe it’s time to revisit it.
I don’t think many people these days correspond like that, it’s all emails or short sharp comments on social media plus emojis now.
I love reading my postcards and the occasional letter. 😀
I have read the book and loved it. It’s one of my favorites. Love the movie too. I didn’t know about the following book of the London trip. Will look for it
I have read the book few years ago and loved it. I do write letters to my children and to strangers sometime.
I must get this book! I would also suggest The Pleasures of Staying in Touch by Jennifer Williams. My favorite letters are from Napoleon to Marie Antoinette.
A sweet little book, and the movie was well done, too. What a great relationship those two had.
Please do review "Going Postal," whenever the fancy strikes you! Another fun read!
Thank you！I must get this book!
This is one of my favorite books!!! And in some extent, it's the beginning of my love for letters & postcards.
Nice review and made me want to read it in the close future! You see not only you are capriccios about reading!
So I'm making no promises, me too!
Happy readings & Happy Postcrossing!
This is one of my favourite books and unlike anything else I have ever come across.
Ho! I've never read the book but the movie adaptation is one of my top favorite films, it's a very moving story, and for a lover of mail, it's very inspiring. Bonne continuation à vous!
One of my favourite books of all time.
Caught the movie with Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins which made me want to read the book. Loved it and the follow up book when she was able to get to England.
I’ve been a fan for years! Love to reread 84 every few years! You all might be interested in a couple of her other books - Letters From New York and Q’s Legacy (a book about her mentor). Someday, I hope to visit England and spend some time on Charing Cross Rd. Thanks for your great review!
I just read 84... last month! Delightful! This is my first time reading your blog so I'm not sure on protocol, but one of my all time favorite "mail-related" books is Wallace Stegner's The Angle of Repose. (It's also a favorite because I love the title and all of it's connotations).
Thank you for reminding me of this book. I entirely enjoyed reading it and now I will fetch it from my bookcase and read it again. The perfect read for autumn!
I love this book so much, it made my cry quite a bit. :o) And the film is delightful as well.
this book lies in the pile with others on my bedside table. I'm curious now and will read it next.
I've just ordered it on medimops, a german second hand online store. Ordered some postcards with it, *sigh*
Definitely Postcrossing addict behaviour.
Thanks for the cool recommendation.
This is one of my all-time favourite books. This and its sequel, *The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street*, were combined to make the film, starring Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins. You could not have found more perfect actors to play these parts and this is one of the few movie adaptations, in my opinion, that honour and do justice to the books. There is a third book, *Q's Legacy*, in which Helene Hanff tells the story of how she came to write the first 2 books.
Another book I read with this theme that I really enjoyed is called *Foreign Correspondence* by Geraldine Brooks. She usually writes fiction but this is non-fiction. I really love her writing.
I read the book years ago, and loved it. In this age of e-mail and Twitter, letter writing is a dying art ... more's the pity. I always enjoyed receiving letters and for many years had many penfriends. I would classify 84 Charing Cross Road as a classic. I must find a copy and read it again.
Lovely book!!
During this horrible covid time, I saw Anne Bancroft in that old movie and I immediately thought: There she is!!
So I went back to Helene Hanff books and they made me happy!!
I highly recommend the books.
Thank you shanaqui for your post ♥
I saw the film and it was delightful. Have always meant to read the book. Thank you for the reminder.
I just ordered a copy. :)
You all mentioned books that definitely end up on my reading list.
I also have a recommendation:
"Celebrated Letters of John B. Keane" (there are two volumes)
I love Irish humour and read a lot of books from the Irish west coast.
These collections feature volumes such as:
Letters of a Love Hungry Farmer; Letters of a Matchmaker; Letters of a Civil Guard, Letters of an Irish Publican and Letters of a Country Postman.
"In them we find many evocations of rural Ireland, with interesting characters, gossip and malice".
A wonderful book and story.
Thank you for the reminder, I loved this book and read it first when I was in my teens way too long ago I read it again a few years ago and it was just as good. I also read The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street and you are right it is a good "Tidy Up" for those of us who prefer a happier ending.
i loved this book and the movie. i have not thought about it in years. i think i am going to look it up and reread and rewatch the movie if i can find it.
an epistolary (fiction) novel that I surprisingly enjoyed is "Incendiary" by Chris Cleave!
I also know and love the book. I’ve been to the shop in London, not a shadow of its former self.
There was a stage play as well which I saw in London starring Judy Dench and a made for TV film with Frank Finley. All of it brilliant
I will have to find this too - just in time for winter "reading season"! I will also add a vote for Nick Bantock's Griffin & Sabine books that was recommended for blog review in the previous book review blog comments :)
Just borrowed and downloaded the audio version from Hoopla, a digital source offered through our public library. Listened while I knitted for an hour today...totally hooked!
wow....i guess im gonna include this book in my 'to buy' list for new year then. If i cant travel to search for this book, i will order it and let the book travel to me :-)
I loved 84 Charing Cross Road, too! Have read it several times, and the I feel the movie does it justice. Another book you may enjoy, told in the form of letters, is Ella Minnow Pea, by Mark Dunn. It is simply wonderful. Do try it.
I will buck the trend here. Hanff’s writing - though her use of the English language is beyond excellent as is Dorothy Sayers - in 84Charing Cross Road she put her prodigious talents to present the reader with a cloying saccharine sweet story which is both a tad boring and predictable and in the end, a book for me not to re-read.
Have you read "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society"? Also a book written as a series of letters.
By Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
I read this cute book not too long ago...the greatest !!!
For anyone looking to buy a copy of this wonderful book, Slightly Foxed produce a lovely hardback version (including The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street). It's a little pricey compared to the standard paperback but worth it if you like a quality, hand finished hardback!
https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/helene-hanff-84-charing-cross-road-plain-foxed-edition/
Going Postal is an excellent book and I recommend it for your next read.
This is my favorite book from childhood to adulthood
I read this book at least once a year. I love the friendship developed through letters. So delightful.
I haven't read the book but I watched the movie, beautiful. I'll look for the book in the library.
If you can watch Hallmark movies Write Before Christmas. Jessica sends Christmas cards to those special to her. It makes you think of people that have been special in your life.
A different book recommendation: “Dear Committee Members”, by Julie Schumacher. A fictional story told via letters of recommendation. Many may relate to the college English professor telling about his life, won the 2015 Thurber Prize for American humor.
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