84, Charing Cross Road

By: Helene Hanff

Narrated by: Barbara Rosenblat, John Franklyn-Robbins

Length: 1 hr and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

When Helene Hanff makes an innocent inquiry about the possibility of purchasing hard-to-find books through Marks and Co., Booksellers, she begins a 20-year love affair with Frank Doel, the proper English bookseller who answers her letter and sends along her first order in the fall of 1949.

They are two very unlikely correspondents: she a cranky Jewish New Yorker who writes TV scripts and lives in a messy apartment on East 95th Street; he a determinedly courteous middle-class Englishman who sends her beautifully bound and often obscure antiquarian books from the shop he manages on Charing Cross Road in London.

The letters, written between 1949 and 1969, capture the period and pay tribute to the special kind of reader who treasures a well-worn classic.

©1970 Helen Hanff (P)1993 Recorded Books, LLC

Lovely and bittersweet

I have been meaning to read this book for over a decade. I don't know what took me so long!

I love epistolary books (Guernsey Literary Potato Peel Pie Society is one of my faves as well) and kept forgetting this is non fiction while reading it! It is lighthearted, lovely and bittersweet when you get to the end. I'm not much of a crier reading books but this one did get me a little teary eyed. I do wish there was more in between on what all these real life people were doing in their lives those 20 years these letters span. I gave the story 4 stars in that case because I wish there was a bit more.

love love love

I wish the world was like this again. simple, pure, genuine love and caring... terrific listen (and the movie is pretty fab too)

Just plain lovely!!!!!

This is one of my favorite books. The caste does a brilliant job of bringing it to life and I look forward to listening to it again with hot coco in front of a fire.

Quiet, charming, humble, funny.

I was aware of this book from the movie. This is a wonderful way to revisit. There is such deep love and humor here. All the joys and sorrows, misgivings and plans that life holds, and then are gone. Suburb listening.

Lovely Story

Many years ago I saw the movie, 84 Charing Cross Road. I have only seen it once. it did stick in my mind and when I saw the book version on Audible, I had to pick it up. I am so glad I did. The book version brought the characters to life for me in a way that the movie didn't. I got to put my own faces on Helene and Frank. I highly recommend this short and heart filling book.

Wonderful

This is such a delightful delicious book. The narration is perfect and the story is just lovely. For a real true scholar there is a lot to be learned. For the ordinary listener it is just a charming book.

A Total delight

Such a charming book. I am so impressed with the ability of the characters to pull us into their lives. I’m picturing them even though there was not a shimmer of a description of any. And how I’d love to visit the bookshop! So sorry it’s over; think I’ll reread.

Amazing book.

I loved this. It's in the format of letters and is the correspondence of a long friendship. The audio contrast between the New York author and the rather formal Brittish bookseller really adds so much. I can't recommend it enough.

Pure Delight

Just a lovely little glimpse of small connections between people who never met, yet the passion
for books forged a wonderful correspondence that gives such pleasure to the reader.
This is amazingly read by Barbara Rosenblat as the American voice from her life in
Manhattan.. wish there was more, but it's the small things that strike the heart.

Light and Literary

This quick listen is kinda charming. A brassy New York writer corresponds with a seemingly stuffy London bookseller, seeking obscure out-of-print classics. The correspondence leads to long-distance friendship. It’s all true, and it’s read by pros.