Written by: Slawka Grabowska
London: Sphere 2010
230 pages
ISBN 978-0-7515-0384-5
We are starting the new season of Donostia Book Club’s meetings with a nice non-fiction story, 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff. As it’s incredibly short, some editions come with its continuation, The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street and it’s worth reading both of them to know the complete story. Without any doubt it’s a perfect book for book and reading lovers, you’ll all feel immediately connected with its characters!
In 1949, an American author Helene Hanff sent a letter to Marks & Co antiquarian booksellers located at 84 Charing Cross Road in London. She was looking for some specific titles and she wanted some cheap but good editions. Frank Doel, the bookshop’s chief buyer answered the letter and sent her the books. That was the beginning of 20 years of friendship, correspondence and book buying. The author published some of the exchanged letters in 1970 with a title 84 Charing Cross Road and in 1971, thanks to the book’s success she visited London for the first time. Unfortunately, Frank Doel had died in 1968 and the bookshops had closed in 1970, but at least she could visit all the other places she was dreaming of for so long and meet Doel’s widow, Nora.
It’s a cosy and light-hearted story, but with some themes that definitely give us topics for discussion. In case you would like to pond over some questions about the book, below you have some topics that occurred to us while reading it.
- How are the styles of Helene’s and Frank’s letters different?
Do the evolve in time? What does it say about their relationship?
- What does the choice of books that Helene buys tell you about
her as a person?
- How does she make her passion for London and British culture
clear to the reader?
- What do we discover about everyday life differences between
New York and London?
- Were you surprised by any historical details described in the book?
- Do you think it was impossible for Helene to find the books she was
looking for in New York? Why was she buying them from London?
- What other characters in the story called your attention?
- Comparing the book with our usual reads, was it any different for you
to read a non-fiction story?
- Reading it in a letter-format made it easier or more difficult for you? Why?
- Which title mentioned by Helene in the letters called your attention
most and why?
- What do you think about Helene’s job?
- And what about her lifestyle? How is it different from what people are
used to now?
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