Recently finished reading Helen Hanff’s 84, Charing Cross Road. Reading it is quite an experience. It is one of the books I have read and enjoyed repeatedly- at least once a year. It has been a favorite travel companion. This slim and small volume of letters exchanged between Helen Hanff, then a budding writer in New York and Marks & Co., London based sellers of second hand (used) books has become a must read for all book lovers. Books about books is a fascinating category to read and 84, Charing Cross Road occupies a special place in this category. Deservedly so. The title of the book is actually the address of the bookshop Marks & Co. It contains correspondence between Helen Hanff and the staff of Marks & Co.(chiefly Frank Doel, the manager of the bookshop) and even with some of the family members of the staff including Franks’ wife Nora from 1949 to 1969.

Helen Hanff saw the advertisement of Marks & Co. in the Saturday Review and wrote a hesitating letter enquiring about some books. She described herself as a ‘poor writer’ with antiquarian taste in books. From here onwards, developed a relationship, first very formal and then much informal and affectionate between her and Frank Doel, the manager of the bookshop and other staff. She kept ordering books, sharing her opinions about them, sharing her tiny problems with buying new books or rushing to the distant post office for sending a postal money order. Initially Frank Doel signed his letters first as FPD and then as Frank Doel. It was the time when England was going through some hard days after the Second World War and rationing of food items was in place. So Helen kept sending ‘To Her Friends at 84, Charing Cross Road’ small gifts of food parcels along with season’s greetings. They were shared by everybody including Frank’s family. They all – including Frank’s wife Nora- used to write to her with gratefulness. Helen wanted to visit England. She liked to country and she wanted to meet all her friends, particularly Frank in person. We read how she planned and then forestalled her proposed visit to England due to some problems or the other. She did finally visit England but it was in the summer of 1971. Three years after Frank Doel passed away from peritonitis from a burst appendix. The shop had closed after Frank’s death but Helen still visited Charing Cross Road and was received enthusiastically by Frank’s family and friends. She became a kind of celebrity there with people queuing up for her autograph.

This small book celebrates love of books and the warmth in human relationships. The books that Helen Hanff ordered tell us a lot about her taste. She was one of those mentored by the English poet and critic Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch or ‘Q’ as he was known and to whom he never met personally. Her taste was guided to a great extent by Quiller-Couch. It is informing as well as entertaining to go through a list of books she ordered. A partial list of these books can be found on the internet after a Google search.

84, Charing Cross Road was later made into a stage play, a television play as well as a film. The book is still read, enjoyed and celebrated widely. The website http://www.84charingcrossroad.co.uk gives us a history of the book, the bookshop – Marks and Co. and also details about the dramatis personae of the book. Helen Hanff passed away in 1997 at the age of 81 leaving behind a memorable classic, a bibliophile’s delight. You certainly can’t read this book, as a critic said, ‘without a lump in the throat.’ Books like this enrich life and give enduring pleasure.