The perfect audio for book lovers, this is the true tale of a love affair built upon a shared love of books. If you’ve never ventured into the world of audio before, this really is the one to start with. Juliet Stevenson and John Nettles capture the essence of this book exquisitely.
Read by Juliet Stevenson and John Nettles Unabridged on 2 CDs Running time approx 2 hours
'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.''
'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
"Human kindness is wonderfully to the fore in this little classic of autobiography, and the combined readings of Juliet Stevenson and John Nettles characterise the writers exquisitely." The Times
Author
About Helene Hanff
Helene Hanff wrote letters all her life as well as being the author of many books for children and articles for the NEW YORKER and HARPER'S.
