On a recent trip to the library I picked up 84 Charing Cross Road on something of a whim. It’s one of those books that I’d heard good things about but never really considered going out of my way to read. The edition that I picked up contained both 84 Charing Cross Road and the sequel, The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street.
84 Charing Cross Road is an epistolary piece in which a writer in New York, Helene Hanff, responds to an advertisement for a bookstore in Britain – Marks & Co. at 84 Charing Cross Road. A correspondence takes place over a period of twenty years, and this is the collection of these letters. What really comes through the letters – both from Hanff and the staff of Marks & Co. – is the genuine warmth and affection that grows between them. Hanff’s acidic tone is never caustic, just razor sharp and witty, but most importantly it is never snarky. Hanff’s requests for books are fulfilled by the bookstore staff, and though it is their shared love and business of literature that brings them together, their relationship through letters just feels very authentic and warm. Frank Doel from the store is the chief correspondent, though other members of staff and Doel’s family members get involved too. What really makes the heart sing is Hanff’s gestures of kindness, sending gifts and going out of her way to make people across the ocean feel loved, accepted and appreciated. There is a lost art that this collection invokes, not just that of letter writing, but of kindness without selfishness.
The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street covers Helene Hanff’s first visit to London in 1971 to promote the first book. She visits 84 Charing Cross Road – the store then long closed – for promotional purposes, she visits other literary landmarks, wines and dines and is entertained by all manner of adoring fans. Her diary entires, however, just do not carry the same emotive strength as her letters. It is interesting to note her reaction to cultural differences – from spelling, pronunciation and slang to customs and manners – but for the most part her emotional distance from what is happening is somewhat disappointing. She is received by the Doel family – who she has corresponded with for 20 years and subsequently achieved her fame – but she just doesn’t appear to have any reaction to it. She comes across as rather cold, which contradicts sharply to the warm and giving character that she appeared as in her letters in 84 Charing Cross Road.
1970, 1973, 84 Charing Cross Road, book review, December 2009, Helene Hanff, non-fiction, The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street
The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street sounds interesting, both books do. Oh how I miss London!