Book Summary and Reviews of 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

84, Charing Cross Road

by Helene Hanff

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  • Published:
  • Oct 1990, 112 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

A heartwarming love story about people who love books for readers who love books.

This funny, poignant, classic love story unfolds through a series of letters between Helene Hanff, a freelance writer living in New York City, and a used-book dealer in London at 84, Charing Cross Road. Through the years, though never meeting and separated both geographically and culturally, they share a charming, sentimental friendship based on their common love for books. Discover the relationship that has touched the hearts of thousands of readers around the world, and was the basis for a film starring Anthony Hopkins and Anne Bancroft.

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What’s your favorite epistolary novel?
Loved 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff (also, enjoyed the sequel). Another delightful and entertaining epistolary series is Beth Brower's the Unselected Journals of Emma M Lion.
-Gabi_J

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"A real-life love story ... A timeless period piece. Do read it." ―The Wall Street Journal

"[84, Charing Cross Road] will beguile an hour of your time and put you in tune with mankind... . It will provide an emollient for the spirit and a sheath for the exposed nerve." —The New York Times

This information about 84, Charing Cross Road was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

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Author Information

Helene Hanff

Helene Hanff (1915–1997) was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In the 1940s and '50s she wrote plays and television scripts in New York City, but found little success until her best-known book, 84, Charing Cross Road, was published in 1970. The book was a smash hit and has been adapted for the radio, stage, film, and television.

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