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84 Charing Cross Road
- Narrator
- John Nettles, Juliet Stevenson
- Publisher
- Little, Brown Book Group
- Publish Date
- 1 February 2007
- Run Time
- 2 hours 8 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
- Rating
- 5.0 (1 review)
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What to expect
'Your ad in the Saturday Review of Literature says that you specialize in out-of-print books. The phrase 'antiquarian book-sellers' scares me somewhat, as I equate 'antique' with expensive. I am a poor writer with an antiquarian taste in books and all the things I want are impossible to get over here except in very expensive rare editions, or in Barnes & Noble's grimy, marked-up schoolboy copies.'
So begins the delightfully reticent love affair between Miss Helene Hanff of New York and Messrs Marks and Co, sellers of rare and secondhand books, at 84 Charing Cross Road, London. For 20 years, this outspoken New York writer and Frank Doel, a rather more restrained London bookseller carry on an increasingly touching correspondence. No doubt their letters would have continued, but in 1969, a letter informed Helene that Frank Doel had died. In the collection's penultimate entry, Helene Hanff urges a tourist friend, ''If you happen to pass by 84 Charing Cross Road, kiss it for me. I owe it so much.'
Critics Review
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A lovely new edition of this classic title
Good Book Guide
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A must for anyone who reads - the correspondence between book lover Helen Hanff and Messers Marks & Cross of Charing Cross Road has been reissued
Daily Express
-
A real-life love story . . . A timeless period piece. Do read it
Wall Street Journal
-
Unmitigated delight from cover to cover
Daily Telegraph
See more reviews See fewer reviews
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Those who have read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, a novel comprised of only letters between the characters, will see how much that bestseller owes 84, Charing Cross Road
Medium.com
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[84, Charing Cross Road] will beguile an hour of your time and put you in tune with mankind . . . will provide an emollient for the spirit and a sheath for the exposed nerve
New York Times
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A unique, throat-lumping, side-splitting treasure
San Francisco Examiner
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One of the subtlest, sharpest, most moving relationships ever formed between pen pals. I can't imagine [84 Charing Cross Road] without Stevenson and Nettles. Her warmth, his reticence, their shared love of old books made me weep. I miss books horribly, but audios as perfect as this make up for the loss.
GUARDIAN
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A must for anyone who reads - the correspondence between book lover Helen Hanff and Messers Marks & Cross of Charing Cross Road has been reissued.
Daily Express
-
Unmitigated delight from cover to cover
DAILY TELEGRAPH
User Reviews
Book 5.0
Narration 5.0
-
5.0 5.0
I dearly loved this collection of letters that spanned two decades starting in the late 40’s when life was pretty austere in ol’ Blighty.
The letters were between an American woman, Helene Hanff, who wrote for a living and a bookseller in London.
Over time a camaraderie develops between them and one somehow becomes invested in these two; their very different lives being linked by their love of literature.
Best bit - it is all true!
The book is read with warmth and affection by Juliet Stevenson and John Nettles.misdirect 2025-02-04
Details
- Author
- Helene Hanff, Introduction by Juliet Stevenson
- Narrator
- John Nettles, Juliet Stevenson
- Duration
- 2 hours 8 minutes
- Release Date
- 1 February 2007
- ISBN
- 9781405503129
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Little, Brown Book Group
- Genre
- Biography: general, Biography and non-fiction prose, Classic fiction: literary and general
- Rating
- 5.0(1 review)
- Narration
- 5.0(1 review)
Synopsis
INCLUDES AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH THE READERS'Your ad in the Saturday Review of Literature says that you specialize in out-of-print books. The phrase 'antiquarian book-sellers' scares me somewhat, as I equate 'antique' with expensive. I am a poor writer with an antiquarian taste in books and all the things I want are impossible to get over here except in very expensive rare editions, or in Barnes & Noble's grimy, marked-up schoolboy copies.'So begins the delightfully reticent love affair between Miss Helene Hanff of New York and Messrs Marks and Co, sellers of rare and secondhand books, at 84 Charing Cross Road, London. For 20 years, this outspoken New York writer and Frank Doel, a rather more restrained London bookseller carry on an increasingly touching correspondence. No doubt their letters would have continued, but in 1969, a letter informed Helene that Frank Doel had died. In the collection's penultimate entry, Helene Hanff urges a tourist friend, ''If you happen to pass by 84 Charing Cross Road, kiss it for me. I owe it so much.'
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